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THE  TALMUD 


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SPECIAL  SERIES  No.  4 


THE  TALMUD 


BY 


ARSfiNE  DARMESTETER 


FROM    THE    FRENCH 


HENRIETTA   SZOLD 


PHILADELPHIA 


THE  JEWISH  PUBLICATION  SOCIET^^F  AMERICA 

-f-Mi-  1897 


way 


COPYRIGHT,  1897,  BY 
THE  JEWISH  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA 


PRESS  OF^ 

EDWARD   STERN   &   CO.,   INC. 
PHILADELPHIA 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

THE  following  passage  from  the  biography  of 
Arsene  Darmesteter,  prefixed  to  Volume  I  of  his 
Reliques  Scientifiques,  deserves  quotation,  both  on 
account  of  its  criticism  of  Emanuel  Deutsch's 
brilliant  article  on  the  Talmud,  which  originally 
appeared  in  the  Quarterly  Review  tot  October,  i867/ 
(reprinted  as  No.  3  of  this  Special  Series),  and  as 
an  illustration  of  the  phenomenon,  often  noted  in 
the  scientific  world,  that  investigators,  wholly  in- 
dependent and  perhaps  in  ignorance  of  each  other, 
publish  work  of  similar  import  simultaneously, 
though  the  phase  of  the  subject  presented  may 
have  been  completely  neglected  up  to  that  time. 

The  biographer,  Arsene's  equally  distinguished 
brother,  James  Darmesteter,  says  (page  xv)  :  "  In 
that  period  falls  his  first  essay,  an  essay  on  the 
Talmud,  in  which  he  undertook  to  give  an  idea 
of  the  contents  of  that  vast  compilation,  of  its 
formation  and  its  history,  and  which,  even  leaving 
out  of  consideration  the  age  of  the  author," — he 
was  then  about  nineteen  years  old — "  is  a  marvel 
by  reason  of  its  precision,  clearness,  and  grasp  of 
the  subject.  That  essay  might  have  sufficed  to 
establish  the  reputation  of  an  Orientalist  and  an 
historian.  Unfortunately,  Arsene  did  not  find  the 
means  to  publish  it.  As  he  was  afcout  to  finish  it, 
there  appeared  in  an  English  review  an  article 

211710 


O  PREFATORY    NOTE 

on  the  Talmud,  treating  in  reality  of  scarcely  any- 
thing but  the  Mishna,  and  written  with  perfect 
appreciation  of  the  public  to  which  the  journal 
appealed.  It  is  the  model  of  a  superficial,  popular, 
enjoyable  exposition.  Deutsch's  article  created  a 
sensation  in  England,  and  was  translated  in  France. 
Coming  after  it,  Arsene's,  superior  though  it  was, 
would  have  appeared  to  be  inspired  by  it.  It  there- 
fore remained  unpublished  despite  the  efforts  later 
on  made  by  M.  Gaston  Paris  to  effect  its  appear- 
ance in  the  French  reviews.  .  .  .  Notwith- 
standing the  great  and  happy  changes  brought 
about  in  France  during  the  last  fifteen  years  in 
studies  of  this  kind,  which  have  found  a  centre  at 
the  Ecole  des  Hautes -Etudes  and  an  organ  in  the 
Revue  des  Etudes  juives,  his  article  has  preserved 
its  originality  unimpaired,  and  even  now  is  unique 
in  our  language  as  a  summing  up  of  the  vast  Tal- 
mudic  chaos." 

In  a  foot-note,  the  biographer  says :  "  My  brother 
later  retouched  his  article,  and  introduced  the  ref- 
erences to  Deutsch  contained  therein."  The  essay, 
here  translated  from  the  Reliques  Scientifiques, 
finally,  in  1889,  the  year  following  the  death  of  its 
author,  found  its  way  into  the  Revue  des  Etudes 
juives. 

THE  TRANSLATOR 


THE  TALMUD 

THE  Talmud,  exclusive  of  the  vast  Rabbinic  liter- 
ature attached  to  it,  represents  the  uninterrupted 
work  of  Judaism  from  Ezra  to  the  sixth  century 
of  the  common  era,  the  resultant  of  all  the  living 
forces  and  of  the  whole  religious  activity  of  a  na- 
tion. If  we  consider  that  it  is  the  faithful  mirror 
of  the  manners,  the  institutions,  the  knowledge  of 
the  Jews,  in  a  word  of  the  whole  of  their  civiliza- 
tion in  Judea  and  Babylonia  during  the  prolific 
centuries  preceding  and  following  the  advent  of 
Christianity,  we  shall  understand  the  importance 
of  a  work,  unique  of  its  kind,  in  which  a  whole 
people  has  deposited  its  feelings,  its  beliefs,  its 
soul.  Nothing,  indeed,  can  equal  the  importance 
of  the  Talmud,  unless  it  be  the  ignorance  that  pre- 
vails concerning  it.  For  what  is  generally  known 
of  this  book?  At  the  utmost  its  name.  People 
have  a  vague  idea  that  it  is  a  huge,  strange,  fantas- 
tic work,  written  in  a  still  more  fantastic  style, 
in  which  bits  of  all  sorts  of  more  or  less  exact 
knowledge,  together  with  dreams  and  fables,  lie 
heaped  up  with  the  incoherency  of  complete  dis- 
order. But  it  has  not  yet  been  made  plain,  that  it 
is  the  work  of  a  nation,  the  expression  of  a  social 
system,  and  that  in  virtue  thereof  it  falls  under  the 
laws  governing  the  progress  of  humanity.  It  is 
not  understood  that  it  is  a  human  product,  whose 

(7) 


8  THE   TALMUD 

origin  and  development  are  human,  capable  of  be- 
ing resolved  into  laws,  and  therefore  laying  claim  to 
scientific  analysis.  From  a  very  different  point  of 
view  it  has  heretofore  been  studied.  Up  to  the 
present,  this  word  Talmud  has  had  the  power  of 
kindling  passions  and  exciting  acrimonious  strife. 
The  impartiality  of  which  the  author  of  the  Annals 
boasts,  sine  ird  et  studio,  should  not  be  expected 
of  those  who  have  written  about  this  book.  I  have 
not  in  mind  the  last  three  centuries,  during  which 
its  study  was  oftenest  inspired  by  religious  passion ; 
Christian  scholars  for  the  most  part  looking  upon 
it  as  a  monstrosity,  an  infernal  production,  which 
damned  the  morality  of  the  Jewish  people,  and 
the  Jews  hotly  defending  the  sacredness  of  a  work 
that  was  the  bulwark  of  their  faith  and  the  em- 
bodiment of  their  religious  life.  Even  in  our  days, 
when  the  demand  for  a  more  scientific  treatment 
is  justified,  the  Talmud  has  in  general  not  been 
accorded  impartial  criticism,  which,  rising  above 
polemics,  should  examine  it  dispassionately,  and 
consider  its  nature  and  growth  in  the  spirit  that  the 
physiologist  carries  into  the  study  of  an  animal  or 
:he  philologist  into  that  of  the  characters  of  a  lan- 
guage. The  Jews  of  Germany  alone  in  the  European 
world  of  scholars  have  built  up  the  science  of  the 
Talmud  by  the  application  of  the  critical  method, 
which  was  unknown  to  the  Jewish  historians  of 
the  middle  ages.  About  forty  years  ago,  Jost, 
Zunz,  and  Rapoport  by  their  learned  researches 
inaugurated  the  great  movement  that  continues 
with  unabated  vigor  in  our  own  time.  Many 


THE  TALMUD  9 

names  suggest  themselves ;  among  others  those 
of  Krochmal,  Herzfeld,  Graetz,  Frankel,  and,  above 
all,  Geiger,  who  is  remarkable  for  the  assurance 
and  the  force  of  his  bold  criticism.  Their  influ- 
ence is  not  confined  to  the  Jewish  world.  Their 
work  has  succeeded  in  obtruding  itself  upon  Prot- 
estant scholarship,  both  liberal  and  orthodox,  forc- 
ing it  to  invite  Talmudic  research  into  the  circle 
of  the  sciences.  But  outside  of  Germany  their 
labors  have  met  with  only  faint  response.  In 
France  and  England,  they  have  been  almost  un- 
known up  to  the  present  time,  and  although  special 
works  are  beginning  to  see  the  light  of  day,  it  is 
true  that  in  the  main  nothing  of  these  studies 
penetrates  to  the  general  public  on  this  as  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Channel.  For  the  benefit  of  this 
public,  it  is  proposed  in  the  following  pages  to  give 
a  cursory  idea  of  the  Talmud,  by  reviewing  the 
principal  results  of  German  criticism.  The  first 
part  shall  be  devoted  to  the  analysis  of  the  Talmud 
collection  and  to  the  examination  of  its  two  com- 
ponent elements,  the  Halacha  *  and  the  Haggada. 
The  second  part  is  reserved  for  the  history  of  the 
development  of  the  book  and  of  the  laws  govern- 
ing it.  Finally,  after  a  glance  at  its  vicissitudes 
during  the  middle  ages  and  in  modern  times,  we 
shall  indicate  what  remains  for  science  to  do  with 
the  Talmud,  and  what  science  may  expect  to  find 
in  it  for  the  history  of  mankind  at  large. 

1  Ch  pronounced  as  in  the  German  Nacht. 


IO  THE  TALMUD 


PART  FIRST 
ANALYTIC  SKETCH  OF  THE  TALMUD 

I 

GENERAL    CHARACTERISTICS 

IF  one  of  the  heavy  folios  that  constitute  the 
Talmud  collection  be  opened  at  random,  the  eye  will 
be  met  by  a  text  in  the  square  Hebrew  characters, 
which  is  framed  on  the  right  and  left  by  narrow 
columns,  and  above  and  below  by  wide  bands,  of 
a  finer  text,  printed  in  the  Rabbinic  characters. 
The  frame  is  the  work  of  French  commentators 
of  the  middle  ages;  the  portion  framed  is  the 
TALMUD. 

The  Talmud,  in  turn,  is  composed  of  two  dis- 
tinct parts,  the  MISHNA  and  the  GEMARA  ;  the 
former  the  text,  the  latter  the  commentary  upon 
that  text.  An  analysis  of  the  Talmud  must  there- 
fore begin  with  that  of  the  Mishna. 

By  the  term  Mishna  we  designate  a  collection  of 
decisions  and  traditional  laws,  embracing  all  de- 
partments of  legislation,  civil  and  religious.  This 
code,  which  was  the  work  of  several  generations 
of  Rabbis,  received  its  final  redaction  towards  the 
end  of  the  second  century  at  the  hands  of  Rabbi 
Jehuda  the  Holy.  It  is  divided  into  six  sections, 


THE   TALMUD  II 

which  in  turn  are  subdivided  into  treatises,  chap- 
ters, and  paragraphs.1 

Its   language   a   Hebrew   that    has    suffered   a 

1  The  section  is  called  Seder j  the  treatise,  Massecheth, 
literally  web;  the  chapter,  Perek;  the  paragraph,  the  sim- 
plest element  of  the  code,  bears  the  name  of  the  code  itself, 
Mishna. 

The  following  summary  of  the  contents  of  the  six  sections 
will  enable  the  reader  to  appreciate  the  extended  variety  of 
the  subjects  embraced  by  the  legislation  of  the  Mishna. 

Section  I :  Seeds. — After  a  chapter  devoted  to  the  bene- 
dictions, it  treats  of  tithes,  first  fruits,  sacrifices,  and  gifts  due 
from  the  produce  of  the  land  to  the  priests,  the  Levites,  and 
the  poor ;  of  the  cessation  of  agricultural  labor  during  the 
Sabbatic  year;  and  of  the  prohibited  mixtures  in  seeds  and 
in  grafting. — In  all  eleven  treatises. 

Section  II :  Feasts.— Of  the  Sabbath  and  Sabbath  rest,  of 
feasts  and  fasts :  Passover,  Tabernacles,  New  Year,  the  Day 
of  Atonement,  and  the  Fasts  ;  of  work  forbidden,  ceremonies 
to  be  observed,  and  sacrifices  to  be  brought  on  those  days.— 
Twelve  treatises. 

Section  III  :  Women. — The  legislation  concerning  mar- 
riage, divorce,  the  levirate  marriage,  and  adultery ;  vows  and 
the  regulations  for  the  Nazirite. — Seven  treatises. 

Section  IV :  Fines. — Civil  legislation,  besides  a  tractate  on 
idolatry,  and  one  called  Aboth,  consisting  of  a  collection  of 
the  ethical  sentences  of  the  Rabbis.  This  section  treats  of 
commercial  transactions,  purchases,  sales,  mortgages,  pre- 
scriptions, etc. ;  of  legal  procedure,  of  the  organization  of 
tribunals,  of  witnesses,  oaths,  etc. — Ten  treatises. 

Section  V :  Sacred  Things.  —The  legislation  concerning 
sacrifices,  the  first-born,  clean  and  unclean  animals;  the  de- 
scription of  Herod's  Temple. — Eleven  treatises. 

Section  VI :  Purifications. — Laws  concerning  Levitical 
cleanness  and  uncleanness ;  clean  and  unclean  persons  and 
things,  objects  capable  of  becoming  unclean  by  contact. 
Purifications. — Twelve  treatises. 


12  THE  TALMUD 

strong  Chaldaic  infusion,  and  has  freely  adopted 
Latin  and  especially  Greek  words,  the  Mishna  is 
written  in  a  simple  style,  so  concise  as  sometimes 
to  be  obscure.  Digressions  are  avoided,  and  the 
anecdotes  met  with  here  and  there  are  introduced 
with  the  object  of  illuminating  opinions  with  the 
light  of  facts. 

It  is  useless  to  dwell  on  the  legislation  of  the 
Mishna,  which  has  so  often  been  expounded  and 
analyzed,  recently  again  in  an  article  in  the 
Quarterly  Review  /  let  us  proceed  at  once  to  the 
Gemara.  But  a  word  must  first  be  said  concerning 
a  collection  called  Tosiftha. 

Rabbi  Jehuda  the  Holy  had  not  incorporated  in 
the  Mishna  all  the  decisions  of  the  Rabbis  that  had 
preceded  him.  A  considerable  number  found  no 
place  in  the  code,  either  because  in  his  eyes  they 
were  not  vested  with  sufficient  authority,  or  be- 
cause they  were  useless  repetitions  of  those  pub- 
lished by  him.  Under  the  name  BoraUhoth  (ex- 
ternce),  the  greater  part  of  the  excluded  decisions 
were  collected  a  little  later  in  the  order  of  the 
Mishna,  with  the  same  divisions  and  subdivisions, 
and  gave  rise  to  a  new  book,  the  Tosiftka,  or  addi- 
tion. The  Tosiftha,  the  work  of  the  Babylonian 
schools,  was  compiled  by  R.  Hyya  and  R.  Oshaya, 
and  presents  the  same  external  characteristics  as 
the  Mishna — the  same  language  and  the  same  style 
— but  anecdotes  form  a  far  more  considerable  ele- 
ment. The  Tosiftha  and  the  Boraithoth  incorpor- 

1  Emanuel  Deutsch,  The  Talmud,  Quarterly  Review. 
October,  1867. 


THE   TALMUD  13 

ated  neither  in  the  Tosiftha  nor  in  the  Mishna  are 
among  the  constituent  elements  of  the  Gemara. 

This,  then,  brings  us  to  the  Gemara,  the  per- 
petual commentary  following  the  Mishna  in  all  its 
divisions  and  subdivisions.1  It  has  come  down  to 
us  in  two  different  forms  or  redactions.  The  one 
is  the  work  of  the  Palestinian  schools,  and  was 
drawn  up  at  Tiberias  in  about  380;  the  other  ema- 
nates from  the  Babylonian  academies  at  Sora, 
Nehardea,  and  Pumbeditha,  and  was  reduced  to 
writing  by  R.  Ashi  and  his  disciple  Rabina,  re- 
ceiving its  final  shape  from  R.  Jose"  in  about  500. 
The  Babylonian  Gemara,  improperly  called  the 
Babylonian  Talmud,  is  clearer  and  more  complete 
than  the  Palestinian  Gemara,  still  more  inaccu- 
rately called  the  Jerusalem  Talmud.  The  former, 
therefore,  was  adopted  by  the  synagogue,  and 
the  other,  of  higher  importance  to  critical  research 
by  reason  of  its  greater  antiquity,  was  neglected 
by  the  Rabbis  and  the  copyists  of  the  middle  ages, 
and  has  reached  us  in  a  much  damaged  condition 
and  not  without  having  lost  many  a  page  in  its 
journey  across  the  centuries.  Unfortunately,  too, 
there  exists  but  one  manuscript  copy  of  the  Jeru- 
salem Talmud,  that  used  for  the  editio  princeps ; 

1  Not  in  absolutely  all.  Certain  parts  of  the  Mishna  lack 
their  Gemara,  either  because  the  discussions  relating  to  them 
were  not  committed  to  writing,  or  because,  though  edited, 
they  have  not  reached  us.  Thus,  in  the  first  and  in  the  last 
section,  a  single  treatise  has  its  commentary.  In  the  fifth, 
that  on  sacred  things,  two  treatises  are  bereft  of  their  com- 
mentaries. 


14  THE   TALMUD 

no  other  manuscript  by  the  aid  of  which  its  muti- 
lated text  might  be  corrected  has  been  preserved. 
Its  Babylonian  rival  has  had  a  happier  lot ;  manu- 
scripts are  not  lacking,  though  for  the  most  part 
fragmentary,  and  up  to  1864  there  had  appeared 
forty-four  editions  of  this  Talmud,  including  the 
Mishna,  the  Gemara,  and  the  commentaries,  all 
paged  alike,  each  edition  numbering  thousands  of 
copies,  each  copy  containing  2,947  leaves,  divided 
up  into  twelve  massive  folios. 

In  the  language  of  the  Mishna  the  groundwork 
is  Hebrew;  of  the  Gemara  the  same  cannot  be 
said.  Its  language  comes  closer  to  the  popular 
idiom,  a  sort  of  Aramean,  more  or  less  corrupt. 
However,  specimens  of  the  Hebrew  of  every  age  are 
met  with,  sometimes  even  of  the  classic  Hebrew, 
according  to  the  antiquity  of  the  incorporated 
texts.  After  the  return  from  the  Captivity,  Hebrew 
was  an  artificial  language  used  by  the  Rabbis,  de- 
generating little  by  little  into  low  Hebrew,  impreg- 
nating itself  more  and  more  with  Aramaic  elements, 
and  finally  merging  into  the  dialect  of  the  people. 
This  explains  how  it  happens  that  a  single  page  of 
the  Talmud  contains  three  or  four  different  lan- 
guages, or  rather  specimens  of  one  language  at 
three  or  four  different  stages  of  degeneracy.  It  is 
not  rare  to  find  the  redactor  of  the  Talmud  confirm- 
ing the  opinion  of  a  Rabbi  of  the  fourth  century  by 
quoting  that  of  a  teacher  of  the  second,  word  for 
word  the  same  as  the  former,  except  that  it  is  writ- 
ten in  Hebrew.  The  general  principle  may  be  enun- 
ciated, that  purity  of  language  is  testimony  to  the 
antiquity  of  the  texts  reproduced  in  the  Talmud. 


THE   TALMUD  15 

Let  us  penetrate  further  into  the  Gemara,  and 
consider  its  various  features.  The  first  striking 
characteristic  is  the  extent  of  the  commentary  as 
compared  with  that  of  the  text.  Many  a  Mishna 
of  five  or  six  lines  is  accompanied  by  fifty  or  sixty 
pages  of  explanation.  In  so  prolix  an  elaboration, 
of  course,  the  lucid  order  of  an  adept's  exposition 
must  not  be  expected.  The  broad  lines  of  a  well- 
defined  plan  providing  a  proper  place  for  each  part 
of  the  Gemara  would  be  sought  in  vain.  The  mod- 
ern scholar  with  his  habits  of  order  and  method 
would  find  himself  singularly  out  of  his  element 
there.  Usually  the  Gemara  presents  the  appear- 
ance of  a  boundless  sea  of  discussions,  digressions, 
narratives,  legends,  wherein  the  Mishna  awaiting 
explanation  is  completely  submerged.  The  reader 
of  its  pages,  in  which  the  most  widely  separated 
objects  are  as  a  matter  of  course  placed  in  close 
juxtaposition,  in  which  all  things  mix  and  clash  with 
each  other  in  the  magnificence  of  barbaric  disorder, 
might  readily  imagine  himself  a  spectator  at  the 
enactment  of  an  endless  dream,  subject  to  no  laws 
but  those  of  the  association  of  ideas.  Not  even  the 
most  circumscribed  discussions  fail  to  give  room  to 
this  characteristic  disorder.  For  instance,  to  eluci- 
date a  point  under  discussion  a  quotation  is  needed — 
a  quotation  of  a  line.  Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  it 
is  considered  sufficient  to  indicate  the  new  argu- 
ment incidentally.  It  is  developed  quite  at  length 
with  all  its  ramifications,  so  that,  to  grasp  its  whole 
extent,  it  becomes  necessary  to  forget  the  first  and 
chief  object  that  suggested  it.  Nor  is  this  all. 


l6  THE  TALMUD 

This  argument  in  turn  calls  up  another,  not  in  the 
least  germane  to  the  principal  question,  and  after 
the  mind  has  been  straying  among  unrelated  digres- 
sions for  the  space  of  five  or  six  pages,  it  must,  in 
order  to  reach  the  starting  point,  painfully  retrace 
the  successive  series  of  arguments,  extricating  as 
it  goes  along  details  useful  in  the  discussion,  if  any 
there  be.  Worse  still  when  the  commentary  by 
the  essential  nature  of  its  object  lacks  stability  and 
precision.  In  the  explanation  of  a  Mishna  the  opin- 
ion of  a  Rabbi  is  quoted ;  the  Mishna  is  put  aside 
in  order  to  reproduce  all  the  opinions  bearing  this 
Rabbi's  name.  Among  them  are  moral  dicta  or 
principles  of  hygiene.  In  consequence,  a  whole 
page  of  maxims  or  of  medical  formulas  defile  before 
the  reader.  Then  follow  incantations,  tales  of  de- 
mons, popular  legends.  Often  the  connecting  link 
is  not  visible.  Chance  has  brought  together  two 
absolutely  irrelevant  fragments — sufficient  reason 
for  the  redactor  of  the  Gemara  to  join  them  to  each 
other.  In  this  flood  of  digressions,  the  Mishna 
seems  forgotten ;  the  reader  at  all  events  has  lost 
it  from  sight,  so  completely  have  his  thoughts  been 
borne  away  on  this  meandering  course,  directed,  it 
seems,  by  fancy  alone.  But  suddenly  it  meets  his 
eye  as  at  a  turn  in  the  road.  The  thread  is  resumed, 
the  explanation  proceeds.  But  how  many  digres- 
sions are  needed  to  make  a  Mishna  exhaust  its 
Gemara ! 

"  It  is  only  after  a  time,"  says  the  author  of  the 
Quarterly  Review  article  on  the  Talmud,  "  that  the 
student  learns  to  distinguish  between  two  mighty 


THE   TALMUD  IJ 

currents  in  the  book — currents  that  at  times  flow 
parallel,  at  times  seem  to  work  upon  each  other, 
and  to  impede  each  other's  action ;  the  one  eman- 
ating from  the  brain,  the  other  from  the  heart — 
the  one  prose,  the  other  poetry — the  one  carrying 
with  it  all  those  mental  faculties  that  manifest 
themselves  in  arguing,  investigating,  comparing, 
developing,  bringing  a  thousand  points  to  bear  upon 
one  and  one  upon  a  thousand ;  the  other  springing 
from  the  realms  of  fancy,  of  imagination,  feeling, 
humor,  .  .  .  The  first  named  is  called  Halachah 
(Rule,  Norm),  a  term  applied  both  to  the  process 
of  evolving  legal  enactments  and  the  enactments 
themselves.  The  other,  Haggadah  (Legend,  Saga), 
not  so  much  in  our  modern  sense  of  the  word, 
though  a  great  part  of  its  contents  comes  under 
that  head,  but  because  it  was  only  a  '  say  ing,'  a 
thing  without  authority  .  .  ." 

In  fact,  precise  as  are  the  boundaries  of  the  domain 
of  the  Halacha,  so  vague  and  ill-defined  are  those 
of  the  Haggada.  It  is  elusive,  varying  from  the 
fantastic  legend  to  the  moral  maxim,  from  the 
magic  formula  to  historical  narratives  and  chrono- 
logical records.  It  is  an  accurate  definition  to  say 
that  it  is  what  is  not  Halacha.  The  latter,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  clearly  defined ;  for  everything  called 
Halacha  has  a  sacred  character,  compelling  the 
respect  of  the  believer.  Halacha  is  LAW  in  all  its 
authority  ;  it  constitutes  dogma  and  cult ;  it  is  the 
fundamental  element  of  the  Talmud,  and  with  it 
we  ought  to  begin  our  investigation  of  the  Gemara. 


l8  THE    TALMUD 


II 

THE    HALACHA 

THE  name  Halacha  applies,  not  only  to  the  special 
laws  established  by  the  Rabbis,  but  also  to  the  dis- 
cussions that  result  in  the  establishment  of  such 
laws.  The  schools  did  not  stop  at  the  text  fixed  by 
Rabbi  Jehuda ;  they  used  it  as  the  point  of  depart- 
ure, and  with  the  aid  of  various  Boraithoth  and  the 
Tosiftha,  they  went  on  to  explain  and  develop  the 
Mishna  and  render  new  decisions.  The  Mishna,  in 
fact,  could  not  be  considered  a  final  text.  When 
earlier  decisions  are  adduced,  it  usually  fails  to  indi- 
cate their  source;  sometimes  the  name  of  the  author 
is  added,  but  only  in  order  to  oppose  another  author- 
ity cited  in  the  same  way ;  and  in  the  latter  case, 
though  sometimes  a  decision  between  the  two  an- 
tagonistic opinions  is  made,  the  question  is  most 
frequently  left  suspended.  All  this  must  be  taken 
up  again  ;  the  discussions  begun  must  be  finished, 
the  points  under  debate  determined  with  precision, 
order  and  light  introduced  everywhere  :  this  is  the 
work  of  the  Gemara.  It  first  devotes  itself  to  the 
laws  set  down  as  established,  inquires  into  their 
origin,  and  rejects  the  various  explanations  offered, 
until  one  is  found  holding  its  own  against  all 
objections.  Often  it  shows  that  the  decision 
reached  by  the  Mishna  is  incomplete,  obscure,  con- 
tradictory, and  that  it  cannot  be  made  to  apply  to  all 


THE   TALMUD  IQ 

the  cases  that  ought  apparently  to  come  under  it. 
In  other  places  the  Gemara  quotes  against  the  Mish- 
na  a  Tosiftha  or  a  Boraitha  of  equal  or  of  greater 
antiquity,  one,  therefore,  invested  with  as  much 
or  with  more  authority.  Thence  arises  a  great 
variety  of  hypotheses  ;  the  discussions  grow  in  ex- 
tent and  depth  until  an  exhaustive  explanation  of 
the  text  is  reached.  Naturally,  free  play  is  granted 
to  infinite  variations  in  form.  To  give  an  accurate 
idea  of  the  discussions  would  be  difficult.  It  is 
preferable  for  us  to  venture  upon  a  quotation, 
which  will  convey  more  than  could  be  said  about  it. 
Opening  at  random  a  volume  of  the  Talmud,  we 
make  choice  of  one  example  among  a  thousand. 
Here  is  what  we  read  on  folio  37b  of  the  treatise 
Git  tin,  or  Divorces  : 

MISHNA:  A  slave  taken  captive  and  ransomed  by  a 
third  party  to  be  a  slave,  is  a  slave;  ransomed  to  be  set 
free,  he  cannot  be  made  a  slave.  R.  Simeon,  son  of 
Gamaliel,  says  that  in  any  case  he  may  be  made  a 
slave.1 

JThe  above  translation  of  the  text  being  somewhat  of  a 
paraphrase,  it  seems  to  us  of  interest  to  give  a  Latin  trans- 
lation, whose  absolute  literalness  is  the  excuse  for  its  strange 
barbarity. 

Mishna  :  Servus,  in  captivitatem  ductus,  et  redemptus,  in 
servi  nomine,  serviet;  in  liberi  nomine  non  serviet.  R.  Simeo 
ben  Gamaliel  dicit :  seu  hie,  seu  illic  serviet. 

Gemara  .-De  quo  agimus  ?  An  ante  repudiationem  ?  In 
servi  nomine,  cur  non  serviet  ? — Verum  post  repudiationem  ? 
In  servi  nomine,  cur  serviet  ? 

Dicit  Aba'ia :  ante  quidem  repudiationem  ;  in  servi  nomine, 
serviet  priori  hero ;  in  liberi  nomine,  nee  priori  hero,  nee  pos- 


2O  THE   TALMUD 

GEMARA:  Of  what  case  does  the  Mishna  speak? 
Has  he  been  ransomed  by  the  third  party  before  the 
first  owner  has  renounced  his  right  of  possession? 
Ransomed  to  become  free,  why  should  he  not  be  made 
a  slave  ?  Is  it  after  that  renunciation  ?  Ransomed  to 
be  a  slave,  why  should  he  not  be  free  ? 

Abaia   answers:    The   Mishna  should    be   explained 

teriori  hero  serviet.    Posteriori  hero  non,  quia  in  liberi  nomine 
redemit ;  priori  hero  non,  ne  renuerit  eum  redimere.   R.  Simeo 
ben  Gamaliel  dicit :  seu  hie  seu  illic  serviet.     Censet,  ut  offi- . 
cium  ingenues  liberare,  sic  servos  officium  esse  liberare. 

Dicit  Raba:  post  quidem;  et,  in  servi  nomine,  posteriori 
hero  serviet;  in  liberi  nomine  serviet  nee  priori  hero  nee  pos- 
teriori hero ;  posteriori  hero  non,  quia  in  liberi  nomine  redemit 
eum ;  priori  hero  non,  quia  post  repudiationem  est.  R.  Simeo 
ben  Gamaliel  dicit  seu  hie  seu  hac  serviet,  ut  TO  Hiskiae; 
quia  dicit  Hiskias :  cur  dixere  seu  hie  seu  illic  serviet,  ne 
singulus  ultro  hostibus  se  offerat  et  e  manu  heri  vindicet. 

Quaestio :  dicit  eis  R.  Simeo  ben  Gamaliel  ut  officium  in- 
genuos  in  libertatem  vindicare,  sic  servos  esse  officium. 
Quoad  Abaiam,  qui  dicit  ante  repudium,  hoc  est  quod  dicit 
TO  ut.  Sed  quoad  Rabam,  quid  TO  ut?  Ob  TO  Hiskiae  est? 

Tibi  dicit  Raba  :  R.  Simeo  ben  Gamaliel  ignorabat  quid 
dixissent  Doctores  et  sic  eis  locutus  est :  si  ante  repudiationem 
dicitis,  hoc  est  TO  ut;  si  post  repudiationem  dicitis,  ut  TO 
Hiskiae. 

—  Et  Raba  qui  dicit  post  et  posteriori  hero,  posterior  herus 
a  quo  acquirit  ? 

—  A  captantibus  ?  — 

—  Captantes  ipsi,  quis  eis  acquirit  ?  etc.    .    .    . 

Now,  in  this  peculiar  Latin  suppress  the  hyphens,  commas, 
and  periods.  Beginning  with  the  word  Gemara,  let  all  the 
sentences  form  only  a  long  string  of  words  placed  one  after 
the  other,  neither  the  beginning  nor  the  end  of  a  proposition 
being  distinguishable,  and  you  will  have  an  almost  exact  fac- 
simile of  the  text,  which  may  be  reckoned  among  the  easiest 
to  decipher. 


THE   TALMUD  21 

thus:  We  are  dealing  with  the  case  in  which  the  first 
owner  has  not  renounced  his  right,  and  the  slave  ran- 
somed to  remain  a  slave  returns  to  serve  his  first  mas- 
ter; ransomed  to  be  free,  he  serves  neither  the  second, 
who  ransomed  him  to  set  him  at  liberty,  nor  the  first, 
who  might  have  permitted  him  to  remain  in  captivity. 
R.  Simeon,  son  of  Gamaliel,  says:  In  any  case  he  re- 
mains the  slave  of  the  first  master,  because  it  is  every- 
body's duty  to  ransom  slaves  equally  with  free  men 
(and  consequently  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  first 
master  would  have  allowed  his  slave  to  remain  in  cap- 
tivity). 

Raba  answers:  This  is  the  way  to  understand  the 
Mishna:  We  are  dealing  with  the  case  in  which  the  first 
owner  has  renounced  his  right  upon  the  slave.  And 
the  Mishna  declares  that,  ransomed  in  order  to  remain 
a  slave,  the  slave  serves  his  second  master;  ransomed 
to  be  set  free,  he  serves  neither  the  first,  who  has  re- 
nounced his  right,  nor  the  second,  who  ransoms  him 
to  set  him  at  liberty.  And  R.  Simeon,  son  of  Gamaliel, 
says  that  in  any  case  he  remains  a  slave,  because  he 
admits  Hiskia's  principle,  namely,  that  if  liberty  could 
be  obtained  thus,  slaves  would  deliver  themselves  up  to 
the  enemy  in  the  hope  of  being  ransomed  and  becom- 
ing free. 

But  in  a  Boraitha  it  is  said:  R.  Simeon,  son  of  Gamaliel, 
says  to  the  Rabbis:  "  As  it  is  a  duty  to  ransom  free  men, 
so  it  is  a  duty  to  ransom  slaves.''  The  explanation  of 
the  Mishna  given  by  Abaia  agrees  with  the  Boraitha, 
since  Abaia  attributes  to  R.  Simeon  ben  Gamaliel  pre- 
cisely this  reason.  But  how  can  the  Boraitha  be  under- 
stood in  the  explanation  by  Raba,  since  Raba  can  justify 
R.  Simeon  ben  Gamaliel's  opinion  only  by  Hiskia's 
principle  ? 

Raba  answers:  This  Boraitha  is  incomplete,  and  itself 


22  THE   TALMUD 

needs  the  following  interpretation:  R.Simeon  ben  Gam- 
aliel, not  knowing  the  opinion  of  the  Rabbis  exactly, 
says  to  them:  If  you  speak  of  the  case  in  which  the  first 
master  has  not  renounced  his  right,  I  admit  the  princi- 
ple, "  As  it  is  a  duty  to  ransom,  etc. "  If  of  the  oppo- 
site case,  Hiskia's  principle  must  be  admitted. 

But  how  can  Raba,  who  admits  that  the  slave  ran- 
somed to  be  a  slave  belongs  to  him  that  has  ransomed 
him,  not  to  his  first  owner,  who  has  renounced  his 
rights, — how  can  Raba  justify  the  second  owner's  rights 
of  possession  ?  Through  whom  does  he  hold  them  ? 

Through  the  captors  who  took  the  slave  prisoner. 

But  the  captors  themselves,  whence  do  they  derive 
their  rights  ?  etc. 

And  the  discussion  on  this  Mishna  of  three  lines 
continues  for  seven  whole  pages. 

It  appears,  from  the  above  passage,  that  in  its 
Halachic  portions  the  Gemara  uses  the  dialogue 
form.  But  it  will  not  do  to  think  of  Plato's  ani- 
mated dialogues,  in  which  the  reader  sees  not  only 
thoughts  conflicting  and  clashing,  but  souls  with 
their  passions,  their  sentiments,  with  all  that 
makes  them  human.  Here  we  have  dialectics  in  its 
driest  and  most  laborious  development.  The  dis- 
putants are  not  men,  but  names  and  arguments. 
And  the  style ! — if  the  language  in  which  the  dis- 
cussions are  clothed  can  be  dignified  with  the  name 
style.  At  times  the  phraseology  is  diffuse,  and, 
swathed  in  a  score  of  words  when  six  or  eight 
would  suffice,  the  idea  drags  painfully.  Again,  at 
other  times,  the  language  is  exasperatingly  con- 
cise, a  letter  standing  for  a  word,  a  word  for  a 


THE   TALMUD  23 

clause.  Questions  whose  complete  statement 
would  take  lines  are  indicated  by  a  single  term, 
from  which,  as  it  were,  they  hang  suspended. 
There  are  peculiar  formulas  in  which  whole  ideas 
seem  to  have  deposited  themselves  and  become 
crystallized.  The  two  words  A  lama  thenan  (verum 
cur  docenf)  mean  :  "But  if  you  maintain  that  only 
the  thesis  contrary  to  the  one  upheld  by  me  is 
true,  why  is  it  taught?  " — The  word  Minalan(unde 
nobisf),  found  at  the  beginning  of  a  number  of 
Gemaras,  means :  "  What  is  the  origin  of  the 
decision  of  the  Mishna  ? "  But  as  one  Mishna  or- 
dinarily comprises  several,  only  the  answer  and 
the  objections  made  to  the  answer  can  clear  up  the 
thought.  Suppress  the  commentary  by  Rashi,  that 
masterpiece  of  precision  and  clearness,  and  the 
Talmud  becomes  almost  enigmatic  even  to  a  pro- 
ficient Talmudist.  Put  Buxtorf  s  Talmudic  Dic- 
tionary (I  do  not  mention  a  grammar ;  there  exists 
none  of  the  language  of  the  Gemara)  into  the 
hands  of  a  scholar  that  has  a  fair  knowledge  of  He- 
brew and  Aramaic,  but  has  never  seen  the  Tal- 
mud ;  it  will  be  impossible  for  him  to  decipher  a 
page.  We  say  decipher,  and  the  figure  of  speech  is 
not  exaggerated  ;  he  truly  has  before  him  a  text  of 
hieroglyphs  or  inscriptions  in  unknown  characters. 
So  true  is  this  that  even  the  Jews,  who  find  the 
study  of  the  Talmud  easier  than  others,  speak  only 
of  deciphering  it.  Suppose  the  teaching  of  the 
Talmud  suddenly  interrupted  during  the  life  of  a 
generation ;  the  tradition  once  lost,  it  would  be  well 
nigh  impossible  to  recover  it.  The  difficulties  are  of 


24  THE   TALMUD 

diverse  kinds,  growing  out  of  the  language  and  the 
subjects.  The  linguistic  perplexities  are  certainly 
not  lessened  by  the  methods  of  teaching  employed 
up  to  the  present  time.  The  inadequacy  of  the 
books  compels  the  student  to  have  recourse  to  the 
peculiar  method  of  traditional  teaching,  that  pain- 
ful method  which  effects  mastery  of  the  language 
only  by  means  of  long  habit.  But  a  good  gram- 
mar, a  complete  lexicon,  a  table  of  Talmudic  form- 
ulas— they  are  not  excessively  numerous — would 
greatly  curtail  the  labor.  Yet,  the  greatest  diffi- 
culties would  remain  to  be  conquered,  difficulties 
almost  insuperable,  because  inherent  in  the  very 
nature  of  Talmudic  argumentation.  The  lucid 
French  mind  would  be  hard  put  to  it  to  reconcile 
itself  to  these  discussions,  which  wind  in  and  out 
through  endless  labyrinths  of  subtlest  reasoning. 
It  were  absolutely  necessary  to  assume  the  Orien- 
tal habit  of  mind,  that  ease  and  force  of  imagina- 
tion which  bear  thought  beyond  the  limits  of  our 
systematic,  straitlaced  logic,  and  enable  it  to 
grasp  the  intangible  relations  between  the  most 
widely  separated  things.  It  is  necessary  to  accus- 
tom oneself  to  that  refinement  of  reasoning  which 
penetrates  to  the  innermost  depths  of  an  idea,  and 
analyzes  its  most  delicate,  most  evanescent  shades, 
until  the  feeling  of  reality  fades  away.  The  influ- 
ence such  a  book  can  wield  upon  the  intelligence 
of  a  nation  is  patent.  The  daily  study  of  the  Tal- 
mud, which  among  Jews  began  with  the  age  of 
ten  to  end  with  life  itself,  necessarily  was  a  severe 
gymnastic  exercise  for  the  mind,  thanks  to  which 


THE    TALMUD 


it  acquired  incomparable  subtlety  and  acumen. 
Reasoning  accustomed  itself  to  accuracy,  thinking 
to  logic  ;  in  a  word,  intelligence  grew  in  depth.  In 
depth,  mark  you,  not  in  extent.  Discipline  a  well- 
endowed  mind  with  Talmudic  study,  and  you  will 
produce  a  dialectician,  forceful  by  reason  of  his  ,  / 
logic  and  his  penetration;  you  will  have  the  un- 
equalled scholars  of  the  French,  German,  or  Polish 
schools,  who  spend  all  their  ability  on  casuistic 
commentaries  ;  you  will  have  a  Spinoza,  who  car- 
ries Talmudic  acuteness  and  profundity  into  phil- 
osophy. But  do  not  expect  to  find  largeness  of 
view,  breadth  of  outlook,  expansiveness  of  ideas. 
The  Halacha  ignores  all  that.  It  is  ratiocination, 
deductive  reasoning  raised  to  the  highest  power, 
and  takes  no  account  of  inductive  reasoning. 

This  characteristic  of  the  Halacha  naturally  sug- 
gests another  monument  raised  by  learned  men  to 
the  glory  of  religion,  and  one  is  tempted  to  pro- 
nounce the  name  of  Scholasticism.  In  fact,  the 
comparison  is  seductive.  Scholasticism,  like  the  / 
Halacha,  is  the  work  of  schools  ;  like  the  Halacha,  v 
it  rests  upon  deduction  ;  and  like  it,  employs  the 
deductive  method.  But  though  Scholasticism  with 
the  Syllogism,  and  the  Talmud  with  its  hermeneu- 
tic  laws,  with  the  seven  rules  of  Hillel,  with  R. 
Ishmael's  thirteen  principles,  or  Akiba's  method, 
seek  to  do  but  one  thing,  namely,  to  demonstrate, 
they  differ  absolutely  as  to  the  aim  of  their  demon- 
strations. The  one  wishes  by  reasoning  to  estab- 
lish the  reality  of  dogmatic  principles  ;  the  other 
tries  only  to  remember,  to  recall  half  forgotten  or 


i/ 


26  THE   TALMUD 

badly  reported  legal  decisions,  and,  by  an  effort  of 
reasoning  memory,  to  rediscover  them  in  their  en- 
tirety. Scholasticism  is  a  philosophic  system,  very 
limited,  to  be  sure,  very  petty,  an  enslaved  system, 
ancilla  theologice ;  but  as  human  reason  is  not  called 
upon  to  do  its  full  part,  this  philosophy  will  some 
day  dominate  and  overthrow  theology.  Talmudic 
Halacha  is  anything  but  this.  Philosophy  it  knows 
"hot  even  by  name,  and  cannot  know  it ;  moreover, 
it  ought  not  to  know  it,  since  it  aspires  to  but  one 
thing  :  to  establish  for  Judaism  a  Corpus  Juris  Eccle- 
siastici. 

If  the  nature  of  the  Halacha  has  been  made  clear, 
and  if  besides  it  is  remembered  that  it  embraces 
all  departments  of  religious  and  civil  legislation,  it 
will  be  seen  how  limited  a  construction  must  be 
put  upon  the  word  encyclopaedia,'  which  has  been 
freely  applied  to  the  Talmud.  The  Talmud  is  in- 
deed an  encyclopaedia  in  the  sense  that  it  contains 
information  on  all  subjects  of  knowledge  cultivated 
in  the  epoch  of  its  composition,  all  of  which  have 
left  in  it  some  trace  or  reminder  of  themselves. 
But  one  must  not  expect  to  see  the  Rabbis  treat 
the  sciences  as  such.  Cast  a  glance  at  the  sum- 
mary of  the  contents  of  the  Mishna  given  at  the 
beginning  of  this  article.  The  first  section  deals 
with  the  laws  having  reference  to  the  products  of 
the  field.  Some  among  them  bear  on  the  mixing 
of  seeds.  Thus  the  Rabbis  are  led  to  speak  inci- 
dentally of  botany  and  to  adduce  certain  botanic 
facts  previously  acquired  with  the  sole  aim  of 
making  them  subserve  the  establishment  of  the 


THE   TALMUD  2? 

Halacha.  The  second  section  treats  of  the  Sab- 
bath and  the  feasts.  With  regard  to  the  Sabbath, 
one  of  the  great  questions  is  that  of  Sabbath  re- 
pose. It  is  prohibited  to  go  beyond  a  radius  of 
two  thousand  steps  from  one's  house  on  that  day. 
But  in  order  to  determine  the  limits  in  despite  of 
the  accidents  of  the  ground,  of  valleys,  hills,  water- 
courses, certain  geometric  facts  must  be  consid- 
ered, and  hence  our  Rabbis  are  obliged  to  talk 
geodesy.  The  fixing  of  the  dates  of  the  festivals 
presupposes  that  of  a  calendar,  which  again  re- 
quires astronomical  knowledge.  Hence  our  doc- 
tors now  turn  to  astronomy,  and  demand  of  her 
guidance  in  the  establishment  of  the  legislation  for 
the  feasts.  Elsewhere,  the  discussion  turns  on 
prohibited  animal  food.  Meat  is  forbidden  when 
derived  from  animals  presenting  specific  character- 
istics that  render  them  unclean,  or  from  clean 
animals  tainted  by  certain  diseases  causing  their 
prohibition.  To  determine  these  specific  charac- 
teristics or  these  morbid  conditions,  some  knowl- 
edge of  anatomy  and  physiology  is  necessary. 
This  part  of  Halachic  legislation,  then,  displays  the 
results  of  natural  history  studies  without  permit- 
ting the  assertion  that  natural  history  is  specific- 
ally treated.  Finally,  in  another  place,  in  the 
laws  on  the  causes  of  uncleanness  in  persons  (is- 
sues, menses,  etc.),  the  lawmakers  take  up  physi- 
ology and  medicine,  inasmuch  as  they  apply  to 
religious  legislation  the  results  of  physiologic  and 
medical  observation.  Thus  the  Rabbis  are  led  to 
speak  of  all  the  departments  of  knowledge  culti- 


28  THE   TALMUD 

vated  in  their  time,  in  order  to  abstract  from  them 
principles  available  for  the  establishment  of  the 
Halachoth.  Moreover,  this  miscellaneous  knowl- 
edge was  acquired,  not  for  its  own  sake,  but  to 
press  it  into  the  service  of  the  Halacha.  Science 
was  not  the  end,  merely  the  instrument  permitting 
the  attainment  of  the  end. 

Nevertheless  it  took  protracted  study  to  compass 
the  Halacha  in  all  its  extent  and  diversified  mani- 
festations. The  title  of  Rabbi  was  not  to  be  gained 
in  a  few  years,  and  at  a  period  in  which  books  were 
rare,  in  which,  particularly,  tradition  might  not  be 
reduced  to  writing,  a  long  pupilage  was  necessary 
to  entitle  one  to  participation  in  the  discussions  of 
the  sages.  One  is  almost  tempted  to  take  literally 
the  Talmudic  accounts  that  tell  of  twenty  years 
passed  by  some  of  the  eminent  doctors  of  the 
Halacha  in  the  apprenticeship  to  the  Law. 

To  complete  our  examination  of  the  various  char- 
acteristics of  the  Halacha,  the  method  of  instruc- 
tion remains  to  be  considered.  The  Rabbis  kept 
schools  (Beth  ha-Midrash,  house  of  study)  in  the 
localities  in  which  they  lived,  and  numerous  disci- 
ples gathered  in  them.  Some  doctrinal  point  was 
assigned  to  the  students  for  elaboration,  and  on 
the  day  of  the  discussion  they  presented  them- 
selves with  their  arguments  all  prepared.  The 
master  catechised  them,  and  by  a  series  of  ques- 
tions skilfully  put  led  them  to  find  the  answers 
themselves.  The  instruction,  then,  was  not  tech- 
nically such  ;  it  was  a  protracted  conversation  into 
which  the  Rabbis  decoyed  their  disciples,  and  from 


THE   TALMUD  2Q 

which  they  boasted  that  they  derived  as  much 
profit  as  the  latter.  The  disciples,  in  turn,  spread 
the  doctrine  of  their  master  abroad.  Thence  the 
expression  met  with  at  every  step  in  the  Talmud : 
"  Such  a  one  says  in  the  name  of  so-and-so,  who 
had  it  from  such  another."  As  for  the  discussions 
that  were  to  result  in  the  fixation  of  the  Law, 
they  took  place  in  the  following  way.  The  Rabbis 
met  in  the  tribunal  or  synhedrin,  often  accompa- 
nied by  their  pupils,  who  listened  in  silence  behind 
a  bar.  After  a  public  discussion,  the  point  of  doc- 
trine was  decided  by  a  plurality  of  the  votes  of  the 
Rabbis.  The  session  was  presided  over  by  the 
Nassi,  or  prince,  and  by  the  president  of  the  tri- 
bunal (Ab  Beth  Din,  the  chief  of  the  house  of  jus- 
tice), the  two  religious  heads  of  the  nation.  The 
Talmud  asserts  that  these  two  dignities  date  back 
to  the  institution  of  the  Great  Synagogue,  and 
perpetuated  themselves  without  interruption  from 
Simeon  the  Just,  contemporary  of  Alexander  the 
Great  and  last  member  of  that  assembly.  The 
Mishna  cites  a  series  of  couples  (zugoth)  of  Rabbis 
succeeding  each  other  in  the  instruction  of  the 
oral  Law  from  Simeon  the  Just  to  Hillel  and  Sham- 
mai,  and  seems  to  confer  the  title  of  Nassi  on  the 
first,  and  Ab  Beth  Din  on  the  second,  of  each  cou- 
ple. Hillel  and  ShammaT  were  the  last  of  the 
series  of  couples,  and  their  successors  explicitly 
bear  the  two  titles.  As  instruction  was  obliga- 
tory and  schools  were  numerous  in  Palestine,  every 
man,  no  matter  of  what  rank,  could  aspire  to  the 
highest  dignities.  Outside  of  the  priesthood, 


3O  THE   TALMUD 

knowledge  alone  constituted  nobility.  Witness 
Akiba,  who  from  the  estate  of  a  simple  shepherd 
rose  to  be  the  great  doctor  of  the  Mishna,  "  the 
second  Moses."  The  Talmid  Chacham  (student), 
if  he  distinguished  himself,  received  the  title  of 
doctor  from  his  masters,  and  though  gratitude  and 
the  admiration  of  the  public  reserved  the  title  of 
Nassi  for  the  illustrious  family  of  Hillel,  at  least 
the  Rabbis  could  choose  the  Ab  Beth  Din  from 
among  those  most  deserving  of  the  office.  When 
the  student  was  judged  worthy  of  the  title  of 
doctor,  Rabbinical  authority  was  conferred  upon 
him  by  a  peculiar  ceremony  called  Semicha  or  Im- 
position (of  the  hands).  This  ordination  was  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  give  him  the  right  to  decide 
and  to  forbid,  to  invest  him  actually  with  the  power 
to  which  his  knowledge  entitled  him  morally.  The 
ceremony  was  of  the  utmost  importance  for  the 
Jews,  since  it  was  efficacious  in  insuring  the  per- 
petuity of  tradition,  as  was  well  illustrated  during 
the  persecutions  of  Hadrian,  at  the  time  of  Bar- 
Cochba's  revolt.  Wishing  to  destroy  the  Jewish 
nation,  Hadrian  condemned  to  death  every  Rabbi 
convicted  of  having  given  or  received  the  Semicha. 
"One  day,"  the  Talmud  tells,  "a  government  de- 
cree condemned  to  the  rack  both  him  that  gave 
and  him  that  received  the  Semicha.  The  city  in 
which  the  ceremony  took  place  with  its  environs 
in  a  radius  of  two  thousand  steps,  was  to  be  de- 
stroyed. What  did  Judah  ben  Baba  do  ?  He 
placed  himself  in  a  valley  between  two  large  towns, 
Usha  and  Shepharam,  and  ordained  five  disciples, 


THE   TALMUD  31 

R.  Mei'r,  R.  Judah,  R.  Simeon,  R.  Jose,  and  R. 
Nehemiah.  Scarcely  was  the  ceremony  completed 
when  the  enemy  perceived  them.  R.  Judah  ben 
Baba  had  time  only  to  say  to  the  Rabbis :  '*  Flee, 
my  sons  ! ' — 'And  thou,  O  master  ? ' — '  I  am  like  a 
stone  that  lies  immovable.'  And  it  is  said  that 
the  Roman  soldiers  did  not  abandon  his  body  until 
they  had  riddled  it  like  a  sieve  with  three  hundred 
lance-thrusts."  Later,  when  the  right  of  Semicha 
was  irrevocably  taken  from  the  Jews  of  Palestine, 
the  work  of  the  schools  stopped,  and  the  chain  of 
tradition  was  broken.  The  constantly  growing 
power  of  the  Church  thus  led  to  the  closing  of  the 
Batht-Midrashim,  and  in  about  370  the  critical 
condition  of  the  school  of  Tiberias  forced  the  Rab- 
bis to  reduce  to  writing  the  Palestinian  Gemara 
(  Talm  udjerushalm  i) . 


Ill 


THE   HAGGADA 

WE  have  now  arrived  at  the  second  current  whose 
existence  in  the  "sea  of  the  Talmud,"  to  employ 
the  expression  of  the  Rabbis,  was  mentioned  above. 
The  question,  What  is  the  Haggada,  we  answered 
by  saying  that  whatever  in  the  Talmud  does  not 
appertain  to  the  legal  discussions,  and  does  not  bear 
upon  the  explanation  of  the  Halacha,  belongs  to 
the  realm  of  the  Haggada.  It  embraces  not  only 
homilies,  preaching,  and  edifying  explanations  of 
the  Bible — all  that  addresses  itself  to  the  heart  to 


32  THE   TALMUD 

touch  it,  to  the  mind  to  persuade  it — but  also 
history  and  legend,  the  most  varied  information  of 
a  scientific  character  in  mathematics,  astronomy, 
physics,  medicine,  and  natural  history.  The  Hag- 
gada  is  talk  in  all  its  wide  play  and  vague  generality, 
the  daily  on  dit,  simple  conversation  or  moral  in- 
struction, interrupting  or  following  the  learned  and 
painful  discussions  of  the  school  and  resting  the 
weary  spirit.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  Haggada 
cannot  have  authority,  and  though  it  may  elicit 
veneration  from  the  crowd,  because  it  issues  from 
the  mouth  of  official  teachers  whose  words  are 
respected,  its  characteristic  is  not  legality;  it  does 
not  legislate.  "Objections  are  not  raised  to  a 
Haggada,"  is  one  of  the  rules  of  the  Talmud.  Else- 
where it  is  said,  "A  decision  is  not  rendered  accord- 
ing to  the  Haggada."  The  Rabbis  specially  devoted 
to  the  study  of  the  Halacha,  maliciously  applying 
to  the  Aggadist  a  verse  from  Ecclesiastes,  called 
him,  A  man  to  whom  God  hath  given  riches,  yet 
giveth  him  not  power  to  enjoy  them,  because  "  he 
can  make  use  of  his  Haggadistic  knowledge  neither 
to  permit  nor  to  forbid,  neither  to  declare  clean  nor 
to  declare  unclean." 

In  the  immense  field  of  the  Haggada  the  Ori- 
ental mind  unfolds  in  all  its  wealth  and  fulness. 
Here  especially  we  must  seek  the  beliefs,  ideas, 
sentiments  that  animated  the  Jewish,  indeed  the 
Asiatic,  world,  in  the  productive  centuries  that 
saw  the  enormous  expansion  of  the  superstitions 
of  the  Empire  and  the  germination  and  growth 
of  the  religion  of  Jesus  and  the  apostles ;  that 


THE   TALMUD  33 

saw  the  rich  development  of  Oriental  mysticism 
and  the  supreme  effort  of  Greek  philosophy  shed- 
ding a  last  and  brilliant  gleam.  This  treasury, 
where  the  noblest  beliefs  the  world  has  been 
able  to  conceive,  as  well  as  the  most  fantastic 
thoughts  that  have  ever  crossed  human  brain,  lie 
promiscuously  heaped  up,  is  a  sort  of  microcosm, 
in  which  that  submerged  civilization  reappears  in 
its  most  salient  features.  Add  all  that  is  charac- 
teristic of  Judaism,  and  gives  it  its  distinctive  stamp 
— its  religious  and  moral  beliefs,  its  customs  and 
usages  springing  from  its  religious  doctrines,  or, 
if  borrowed  from  neighboring  nations,  so  completely 
transformed  and  so  well  marked  by  the  Jewish  im- 
press as  to  appear  Jewish — and  you  will  understand 
the  profound  charm  exercised  by  the  Haggada  over 
the  thinker  and  the  scholar  that  investigate  the 
manifestations  of  human  thought  under  whatever 
form  they  appear.  A  great  piece  of  work  might  be 
done — the  sifting  and  co-ordinating  of  the  Hag- 
gada's  heterogeneous  wealth.  It  would  be  neces- 
sary to  go  over  the  whole  ground,  and  make  a 
systematic  classification,  such  as  we  of  modern 
times  demand ;  show  what  the  Haggada  knew  of 
the  exact  and  what  of  the  natural  sciences;  present 
the  allotment  of  truths  which  it  has  been  able  to 
discover  and  of  errors  which  it  harbors.  It  would 
be  necessary  to  scrutinize  its  morality  and  its  re- 
ligious philosophy  (the  only  philosophy  it  knows), 
and  see  to  what  level  it  was  able  to  rise.  And  it 
were  specially  important  to  study  the  oddities,  the 
fables,  the  superstitions  of  the  Haggada,  since  in 

3 


34  THE   TALMUD 

the  history  of  the  human  mind  nothing  is  more 
instructive  than  the  study  of  the  diseases  of  the 
intellect,  which  enable  us  the  better  to  understand 
the  mind  in  its  healthy  state,  on  the  principle  that 
sends  physiology  to  the  examination  of  morbid 
phenomena.  The  stranger  the  customs  of  other 
nations  appear  to  us,  the  odder  their  manner  of 
feeling  and  of  regarding  things,  the  more  fruitful  a 
source  are  observation  and  research  for  the  phi- 
losopher. Nothing,  therefore,  may  be  neglected, 
and  without  fearing  the  outrage  to  our  habits  or 
the  shock  to  our  modern  taste,  we  should  accept 
the  pebble  as  well  as  the  precious  stone,  mud  and 
slime  as  well  as  the  pure  and  limpid  waters ;  in  a 
word,  bring  together  all  the  productions  of  the 
popular  imagination,  whatever  they  may  be,  in 
which  nature  expresses  herself  in  all  her  naivett, 
and  displays  herself  in  her  nakedness.  This  is  the 
work,  not  without  dignity  and  charm,  that  awaits 
performance,  and  that  might  tempt  a  mind  at  once 
patient  and  bold.  But  it  is  easy  enough  to  trace  out 
a  plan  or  point  out  a  desideratum.  The  important 
thing  is  to  realize  both. 

We  make  no  pretense  of  giving  even  a  sketch 
of  the  work  indicated.  We  content  ourselves  with 
putting  together  some  few  features  that  convey 
at  least  an  idea  of  the  Haggada. 

In  the  exact  sciences,  the  Haggada  presents  the 
singular  characteristic  of  a  mixture  of  truths  and 
errors,  thus  seeming  to  prove  the  acceptance  of 
certain  scientific  traditions  from  alien  sources, 


THE   TALMUD  35 

rather  than  the  existence  of  a  method  of  investiga- 
tion. Everywhere  in  the  Talmud  the  ratio  of  the 
circumference  to  the  diameter  is  as  three  to  one, 
although  four  or  five  centuries  earlier  Archimedes 
had  found  it  to  be  \2-.  The  method  indicated  by 
the  Mishna  for  measuring  the  width  of  a  hill  is 
most  primitive.  Two  men  measure  it  with  a  chain 
about  four  cubits  in  length,  one  of  them  holding 
one  end  against  his  stomach,  the  other  holding  the 
other  end  with  his  feet.  The  Talmud  says  :  "  The 
circumference  of  the  world  (that  is,  the  length  of 
the  orbit  described  by  the  sun  in  his  course  from 
rising  to  setting)  is  about  six  thousand  Peras,  and 
the  thickness  of  the  firmament  (that  is,  the  distance 
from  the  sun  to  the  earth)  is  about  one  thousand 
Perns."  The  first  of  these  statements  is  an  old  tra- 
dition ;  the  second  is  an  inference  from  R.  Jocha- 
nan's  saying  :  A  man  walking  at  the  ordinary  pace 
can  take  thirty  thousand  steps  a  day,  five  thou- 
sand from  the  beginning  of  dawn  to  the  first  rays  of 
the  sun,  and  five  thousand  from  sunset  to  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  stars.  Thus  the  time  taken  by 
the  sun  to  send  us  his  light,  namely,  the  period  of 
the  five  thousand  steps  during  dawn  or  twilight,  is 
the  sixth  part  of  that  devoted  to  the  illumination  of 
the  world,  the  period  of  the  thirty  thousand  steps. 
Then  the  thickness  of  the  firmament  is  one-sixth 
of  the  length  of  the  solar  orbit.  By  the  side  of 
such  puerilities,  statements  like  the  following  are 
found:  R.  Gamaliel  says  :  "There  is  a  tradition 
in  my  grandfather's  family  that  the  new  moon 
sometimes  is  ahead  of  her  time,  sometimes  is  de- 


36  THE   TALMUD 

layed ;  in  no  case  does  she  appear  before  the  lapse 
of  29 Y?,  days  plus  ^  and  73  parts  of  an  hour."  The 
hour  in  the  Talmud  is  divided  into  1080  parts — in 
passing,  notice  the  happy  choice  of  a  number  divis- 
ible by  every  digit  except  7.  All  reductions  being 
made,  we  have  29  days,  12  hours,  44  minutes,  3.3  + 
seconds.  The  mean  length  of  a  synodic  revolution 
being  29  days,  12  hours,  44  minutes,  2.8  seconds, 
the  approximation  is  seen  to  be  very  close.  Here 
is  a  curious  assertion  :  "  The  sages  of  Israel  main- 
tain that  the  sphere  is  motionless,  and  that  it  is  the 
planets  that  move ;  the  learned  men  of  other  na- 
tions maintain  that  the  planets  are  fixed  to  the 
sphere,  which  turns."  But  what  is  one  to  say 
about  the  following  ?  "  The  sages  of  Israel  main- 
tain that  during  the  day  the  sun  rolls  under  the 
firmament,  and  during  the  night  above  it  (which 
renders  him  invisible)  ;  the  sages  of  other  nations 
maintain  the  contrary."  It  seems  that  R.  Joshua 
(towards  the  end  of  the  first  century)  knew  how 
to  calculate  the  period  of  the  comet  to  which  Hal- 
ley's  name  is  attached.  The  Talmud  speaks  of  the 
profound  astronomical  learning  of  Samuel  the 
Babylonian,  who  made  a  special  study  of  the  moon. 
He  is  the  one  who  asserted  that  he  was  as  well 
acquainted  with  the  paths  of  the  heavenly  bodies 
as  with  the  streets  of  Nehardea  ;  but  he  was  wholly 
unable  to  explain  the  nature  of  comets.  "  We 
know  only  by  tradition,"  he  added,  "that  the  com- 
ets do  not  cross  Orion,  else  they  would  shatter  the 
world,  and  if  they  appear  to  cross  it,  it  is  the  light 
they  cast  that  traverses  the  constellation,  not  they 


THE    TALMUD  37 

themselves."  These  quotations,  in  which  the  word 
tradition  occurs  several  times,  seem  to  prove  that, 
though  some  of  the  Rabbis  devoted  themselves 
specially  to  the  exact  sciences,  the  others  were 
totally  unacquainted  with  them.  Had  they  a  scien- 
tific method  of  research  ?  We  do  not  think  so  ;  we 
rather  incline  to  the  opinion  that  the  greater  part 
of  these  scientific  facts  were  borrowed  either  from 
the  inhabitants  of  Irak  or  from  the  Greeks. 

In  natural  history  and  in  anatomy  the  Haggada 
is  clearer.  Here  the  Rabbis  made  observations, 
doubtless  because  the  Halacha  is  more  particu- 
larly interested  in  these  departments,  having,  for 
instance,  to  legislate  on  agricultural  subjects, 
classify  the  mammals,  the  fish,  and  the  birds  as 
clean  and  unclean,  and  study  the  diverse  dis- 
eases that  can  attack  the  clean  animals.  There- 
fore, facts  were  collected,  animals  dissected,  their 
organs  studied :  the  brain,  whose  superior  and 
inferior  membrane  are  known ;  the  cerebellum, 
whose  diseases  may  cause  impotence ;  the  spinal 
cord,  which  is  the  prolongation  of  the  cerebellum, 
and  whose  lesions  in  certain  cases  are  fatal,  in 
others  do  not  bring  on  death ;  the  heart,  with  its 
two  ventricles,  its  two  auricles,  and  the  peri- 
cardium. The  lungs  and  the  stomach  are  the 
objects  of  special  study.  By  the  side  of  ingenious 
observations,  general  principles  are  found  :  "  Every 
horned  animal  is  clovenfooted."  "The  presence 
of  scales  proves  the  existence  of  fins."  The  form 
of  the  egg  indicates  the  class  of  the  bird.  The 


38  THE   TALMUD 

Rabbis  observed  that  the  milk  of  an  unclean  animal 
does  not  curdle  ;  that  animals  cast  their  young  by 
day  or  by  night,  according  as  they  copulate  by  day 
or  by  night ;  that  the  union  of  animals  with  the 
same  mode  of  copulation  and  the  same  period  of 
pregnancy  is  fruitful.  They  know  the  amianthus 
that  whitens  in  the  fire.  But  they  assert,  agreeing 
in  this  respect  with  Lucretius,  Pliny,  and  the 
whole  ancient  world,  that  the  lion  is  afraid  of  the 
crowing  of  the  cock ;  nor  do  they  contradict  an- 
other of  Pliny's  statements,  that  the  salamander 
extinguishes  fire.  They  look  upon  apes  of  the 
larger  kinds  as  half  men,  and  they  know  the 
Shamir,  created,  says  the  Mishna,  during  the  twi- 
light of  the  sixth  day,  a  worm  as  large  as  a  barley 
grain,  whose  look  cleaves  rocks  ;  therefore,  as  the 
Temple  was  to  be  constructed  with  stones  un- 
touched by  iron,  the  Shamir  was  used  to  cut  them. 

Natural  history  leads  us  to  medicine,  which  was 
always  cultivated  among  the  Jews,  and  remained  a 
scientific  tradition  with  them  up  to  modern  times. 
It  is,  therefore,  not  surprising  to  find  fairly  ex- 
tended information  on  the  subject  in  the  Haggada. 
Whole  pages  are  taken  up  with  the  explanation  of 
medical  formulas  and  pharmaceutic  prescriptions. 
There  are  hygienic  lessons  and  series  of  injunc- 
tions as  to  the  use  of  simples.  Our  ignorance  of 
these  matters  forbids  our  making  a  selection  and 
giving  extracts.  We  believe,  however,  that  it 
would  be  interesting  to  investigate  whether  the 
Haggada  contains  a  collection  of  personal  obser- 


THE   TALMUD  39 

vations  and  true  experiments,  as  they  were  con- 
sidered to  be  by  the  Jewish  scholars  of  the  middle 
ages.  The  author  of  the  Cozari,  Jehuda  Halevi, 
maintains  that  the  Talmud  boasts  knowledge  not 
to  be  found  in  either  Aristotle  or  Galen.  Perhaps, 
too,  its  notions  are  connected  by  general  system- 
atic views,  in  which  case  it  would  be  necessary 
to  investigate  whether  the  medical  theories  were 
not  borrowed  from,  or  at  least  influenced  by,  the 
schools  of  Hippocrates,  Galen,  and  Soranus.  At 
all  events,  in  our  opinion,  we  have  here  an  inter- 
esting problem  in  the  history  of  medicine. 

Did  the  Rabbis  look  with  favor  upon  magical 
medicine,  that  mass  of  superstitious  practices 
with  which  Chaldea  flooded  Asia  and  Europe? 
Knowing  their  disposition  to  be  what  it  is,  we  can 
boldly  answer,  No.  Somewhere  in  the  Talmud  it 
is  told  that  King  Hezekiah  hid  and  destroyed  a 
medical  book,  and  the  act  is  praised,  because,  says 
Maimonides,  the  book  contained  talismanic  reme- 
dies. It  is,  nevertheless,  not  astonishing  to  find  a 
large  part  of  the  Haggada  given  over  to  magic. 
Yet  among  the  masters  of  the  black  art  figures 
neither  Samuel  the  Babylonian  nor  Theodosius  the 
Palestinian,  of  whose  medical  science  the  Talmud 
makes  boast.  There  are  Rabbis  that  recall  with 
more  or  less  credulity  the  popular  superstitions, 
the  study  of  which,  it  must  be  conceded,  is  not 
without  interest,  for  it  is  very  curious  to  see  how 
pseudo-medical  practices,  common  to  the  whole 
of  Asia,  among  the  Jews  take  on  forms  in  which 
their  peculiar  genius  is  revealed.  According  to 


40  THE   TALMUD 

Pliny,  the  quartan  fever  is  cured  by  suspending 
from  one's  neck  the  longest  tooth  of  a  black  dog, 
or  some  dust  in  which  a  sparrow  has  wallowed, 
tied  up  in  a  piece  of  linen  attached  by  a  red 
thread.  R.  Huna  is  more  exacting  :  "  One  must 
take  seven  thorns  from  seven  palm  trees,  seven 
splinters  from  seven  beams,  seven  pegs  from  seven 
bridges,  seven  cinders  from  seven  ovens,  seven 
grains  of  dust  from  seven  door  pivots,  seven  kinds 
of  pitch  from  seven  ships,  seven  caraway  seeds, 
and,  finally,  seven  hairs  from  seven  old  dogs." 
You  recognize,  do  you  not,  in  the  multiplication 
of  ingredients,  the  riotous  imagination  of  the  Ori- 
ental, and  in  the  use  of  seven  the  Jewish  tendency 
to  make  this  number  sacred  ?  Perhaps,  however, 
it  is  proper  to  look  upon  this  prescription  by  R. 
Huna  as  hidden  irony  against  the  popular  preju- 
dices, which  he  is  secretly  combating  even  while 
appearing  to  lower  himself  to  them.  The  follow- 
ing advice  is  characteristic,  and  leaves  no  room 
for  uncertain  interpretations  :  "Against  a  burning 
fever,"  says  R.  Jochanan,  "  take  a  knife  made  en- 
tirely of  iron,  go  into  the  underbrush  and  tie  a 
white  hair  to  it ;  on  the  first  day  cut  a  notch  into 
a  thorn  while  saying  the  verse  from  Exodus  :  *  The 
angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  unto  Moses,'  etc.  (in 
the  burning  bush).  The  next  day  make  another 
incision  in  the  thorn,  and  say :  '  The  Lord  saw 
that  Moses  turned  aside  to  see.'  The  third  day 
return,  and  say:  'God  said  to  Moses,  Draw  not 
nigh  hither.'  That  done,  bend  to  the  ground,  and 
pronounce  these  words :  '  Bush  !  Bush !  it  is  not 


THE   TALMUD  4! 

because  thou  art  the  greatest,  but  because  thou 
art  the  humblest  of  the  trees  that  the  Holy  One, 
blessed  be  He,  has  made  His  glory  to  descend 
upon  thee,  and  as  the  fire  was  lighted  before 
Hanania,  Mishael,  and  Azaria,  and  fled  before 
them,  so  may  the  fever  which  burns  in  me  flee 
before  me ! '  If  this  practice  was  inspired  by 
alien  customs,  Judaism  has  transformed  it  in  a 
singular  way,  and  given  it  its  own  impress.  Means 
are  found  of  turning  popular  superstitions  to  edi- 
fying uses  and  of  reading  an  elevated  lesson  of 
morality  into  a  good  wife's  prescription. — Else- 
where Abai'a  reports  numerous  formulas  in  the 
name  of  his  mother,  a  woman  celebrated  in  Tal- 
mudic  demonology  :  three  madder-colored  threads 
(the  red  thread  of  Pliny?)  around  one's  neck 
arrest  disease,  five  drive  it  away,  seven  are  a  safe- 
guard against  spells. — "  Yes,"  says  R.  Aha  bar 
Jacob,  "  if  the  wearer  of  the  threads  sees  neither 
the  sun,  nor  the  moon,  nor  rain,  and  hears  not 
the  noise  of  iron,  nor  that  of  the  forge,  nor  the 
crowing  of  a  cock." — "  Why,  then,  the  virtues  of 
thy  madder-colored  threads  fall  to  the  ground," 
answers  R.  Nachman,  "for  thou  demandest  the 
impossible." 

Turn  a  page,  and  from  magic  receipts  we  pass  to 
pure  magic.  The  Haggada  unveils  strange  mys- 
teries. It  tells  at  great  length  of  demons,  who 
like  mortals  eat  and  drink,  live  and  die,  and  repro- 
duce themselves,  in  these  respects  partaking  of 
human  weakness,  but  who  are  winged,  transport 
themselves  in  an  instant  over  the  whole  universe, 


42  THE   TALMUD 

know  the  future,  and  invisible  can  assume  any 
form  they  please.  You  are  informed  that  some 
are  charged  with  the  mission  of  rubbing  up  against 
you  without  your  knowledge,  and  that  is  the  rea- 
son your  garments  wear  out;  that  others  delight 
in  destroying  unoccupied  dwellings,  but  leave  them 
at  the  sight  of  a  man.  Therefore,  the  owner  of  a  de- 
serted house  ought  to  be  grateful  to  him  who  takes 
up  his  residence  in  it.  Some  perch  on  the  roofs, 
and  are  on  the  lookout  for  passers-by  to  cast  a  spell 
on  them ;  others  sit  down  on  the  parings  of  nails 
incautiously  thrown  on  the  ground ;  then  woe  to 
the  woman  with  child  who  walks  over  them  ;  others 
on  onions,  or  on  garlic  with  the  outside  skin  taken 
off :  beware  of  swallowing  them  along  with  those 
vegetables  !  Others  hide  themselves  in  water  dur- 
ing the  night ;  therefore,  precautions  must  be  taken 
when  one  is  thirsty  at  night !  Thus  : 

"  Do  not  drink  at  night.  The  demon  Shabriri, 
who  takes  up  his  abode  in  water,  is  to  be  feared; 
he  strikes  blind  those  who  drink.  If,  however, 
you  are  thirsty,  awaken  your  companion,  and  say, 
Let  us  drink  together.  The  demon  will  keep  him- 
self quiet.  If  you  are  alone,  make  a  noise  with 
your  pillow,  and  say  aloud,  Thou  so-and-so,  son  of 
so-and-so,  thy  mother  has  told  thee :  Beware  of 
Shabriri,  briri,  riri,  iri,  riy  z",  in  white  vases." 

We  might  continue  our  quotations  endlessly. 
The  reader  sees  a  phantasmagoria  pass  before  his 
eyes,  sometimes  strange,  odd,  ridiculous,  some- 
times impish,  bold,  audacious,  seeming  to  mock  at 
the  laws  of  nature  and  bid  defiance  to  the  rules  of 


THE    TALMUD  43 

good  sense  or  taste.  Under  the  conjuring  wand 
of  the  Haggada,  new  life  animates  the  universe. 
The  human  soul  seems  to  have  transfused  nature 
with  her  sentiments,  her  passions,  her  language. 
Trees,  animals,  stones  are  endowed  with  speech. 
The  souls  of  the  dead  converse  with  one  another 
in  the  graveyards.  The  infinitely  great  and  the 
infinitely  small  are  intermingled  and  confounded; 
by  the  side  of  the  Shamir,  the  marvellous  worm 
whose  look  cleaves  rocks,  are  gigantic  monsters : 
the  Behemoth,  which  every  day  browses  on  the 
grass  of  a  thousand  mountains,  but  which  God 
castrated  that  its  progeny  might  not  destroy  the 
whole  of  terrestrial  vegetation ;  and  the  Leviathan, 
whose  female,  killed  from  a  similar  precaution, 
girdles  the  earth  with  her  carcass.  It  is  the  un- 
rolling of  a  vast  fairy  world,  in  which  reason  must 
perforce  yield  to  riotous  imagination. 

Who  shall  tell  the  history  of  these  poetic  or  sin- 
gular legends  and  their  successive  transformations 
in  Mahometan  and  Christian  mythology  ?  Who 
shall  tell  the  history  of  the  tales  of  Asmodeus, 
Lilith,  Sammael,  originating  doubtless  in  the 
depths  of  Chaldea  and  preserved  by  pious  tradi- 
tion throughout  the  centuries  up  to  our  day  ?  Go 
to  the  remote  parts  of  Alsace,  or  to  Germany,  or 
Poland  ;  enter  Jewish  homes  in  which  old  customs 
have  scarcely  been  encroached  upon  by  modern 
civilization,  and  there,  in  the  intimate  intercourse 
of  winter  evenings,  some  good  wife  will  tell  you 
with  pious  terror  the  fantastic  tales  that  mayhap 


44  THE   TALMUD 

her  captive  ancestors  heard  two  thousand  years 
ago  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates. 

Between  legend  and  history  the  boundary  line  is 
not  well  marked,  especially  not  in  the  imagination 
of  an  Oriental.  Let  us  cross  it,  and  inquire  into 
the  value  of  the  Haggada  as  an  historic  authority. 
This  question  admits  of  two  contradictory  answers, 
for,  according  to  the  point  of  view,  it  is  equally  just 
to  concede  and  to  refuse  value  to  it.  To  hope  to 
find  in  the  Haggada  precise  and  detailed  chroni- 
cles, scrupulously  exact  and  circumstantial  narra- 
tives of  events,  is  to  run  the  risk  of  complete 
disappointment.  The  Haggada  is  totally  ignorant 
of  what  is  properly  called  history.  Reality  and 
dream  mingle  in  nebulous  vagueness.  It  does  not 
seem  to  have  an  accurate  idea  of  time.  The 
Orient,  in  fact,  immobile  in  its  unchangeable  exist- 
ence, cannot  have  the  precise  notion  of  time  so 
clearly  conveyed  to  the  Occidental  mind  by  per- 
petual mutations.  Thus  the  various  epochs  of  the 
past  seem  to  be  put  upon  the  same  plane.  Edom, 
Nebuchadnezzar,  Vespasian,  Titus,  Hadrian,  all 
the  enemies  of  the  Jewish  race,  merge  into  one 
type,  and  one  is  substituted  for  the  other  in  the 
long  martyrology  of  its  history.  If,  for  instance, 
there  is  any  event  that  should  have  left  deep  traces 
in  the  memory  of  the  nation,  it  assuredly  is  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  "Holy  House." 
Yet,  concerning  the  various  phases  of  the  struggle, 
the  men  that  took  part  in  and  directed  it,  and  the 
final  catastrophe,  clear  and  accurate  data  are  sought 


THE  TALMUD  45 

in  vain.  Aside  from  some  vague  details,  in  which 
the  element  of  truth  they  may  contain  waits  to  be 
set  free  by  criticism,  absolutely  nothing  can  be 
found.  But  what  the  Haggada  does  know,  are 
the  poetic  legends  that  thrill  the  populace,  and 
go  straight  to  one's  heart.  It  tells  the  story  of 
Martha,  the  wife  of  the  high  priest  Joshua  ben 
Gamala,  the  elegant,  fastidious  lady  to  whom  were 
applied  the  words  of  Deuteronomy:  "The  tender 
and  delicate  woman  among  you,  which  would  not 
adventure  to  set  the  sole  of  her  foot  upon  the 
ground  for  delicateness  and  tenderness,"  and  who 
dies  of  hunger  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  or,  ac- 
cording to  another  version,  is  dragged  across  coun- 
try bound  by  her  hair  to  the  tail  of  a  wild  horse. 
It  tells  the  story  of  that  Zadok  who  bewails  the 
misery  of  his  land,  and  in  his  grief  condemns  him- 
self to  a  forty  years'  fast.  "  He  ate  only  one  fig  a 
day,  and  he  grew  so  thin  that  this  fig  could  be  seen 
to  pass  down  his  throat."  It  recounts  with  all 
possible  precision  the  fortunes  of  the  son  and  the 
daughter  of  the  high  priest  Ishmael  ben  Elisha 
after  the  sack  of  the  Holy  City.  They  were  sold 
as  slaves  to  two  neighboring  masters. — Said  the 
first,  I  have  a  slave  of  incomparable  beauty.— And 
I,  said  the  other,  possess  the  most  beautiful  maiden 
imaginable.  Let  us  join  them  in  marriage,  and 
share  their  children. — In  the  evening  they  locked 
them  up  together  in  a  chamber.  The  youth  re- 
mained in  one  corner,  the  maiden  in  another. 
The  former  said:  I,  a  priest,  the  son  of  a  high 
priest,  should  take  to  wife  a  slave!  The  latter 


46  THE   TALMUD 

said  :  I,  the  daughter  of  a  high  priest,  should  marry 
a  slave  !  Thus  they  lamented  all  night.  With  the 
dawn  came  recognition,  and  each  leaping  towards 
the  other,  they  stood  clasped  in  close  embrace  until 
their  souls  took  flight.  And,  stirred  to  his  depths, 
the  narrator,  recalling  the  verse  in  Lamentations, 
exclaims,  "For  these  things  I  weep:  mine  eye, 
mine  eye  runneth  down  with  water." — Such  are 
the  recollections  that  remain  of  the  catastrophe 
— legends  and  tales.  This  is  no  longer  history,  or, 
if  you  will,  it  is  still  history,  but  of  the  kind  made 
by  the  people. 

Assuredly,  it  will  not  do  to  require  of  the  Hag- 
gada  the  exactitude  of  an  historic  chronicle.  And 
if  perchance  we  find  here  and  there,  buried  under 
a  thick  layer,  a  few  precise  data,  a  few  accurate 
notes,  a  few  lines  of  history,  the  Seder  Olam 
(Chronicle  of  the  World),  the  Megillath  Taanith 
(Roll  of  Fasts),  it  must  nevertheless  be  conceded 
that  the  Haggada  has  nearly  no  value  at  all  as  a 
documentary  source. 

But  precisely  because  the  narrative  of  facts  is 
merged  into  legend,  the  Haggada  ought  to  yield 
all  the  interest  of  legendary  chronicles.  It  will  not 
do  to  turn  up  one's  nose  at  legend ;  it  is  the  abso- 
lutely necessary  complement  of  history,  which 
usually  presents  facts  in  all  their  nudity  and  dry- 
ness.  But  facts  are  far  from  being  all  that  is  essen- 
tial. There  is  the  idea  hiding  beneath  the  facts 
and  dominating  them,  as  vital  force  animates  the 
skeleton  of  an  animal.  Now  this  idea,  which  only 
with  great  difficulty  can  be  abstracted  from  a  series 


THE   TALMUD  47 

of  facts,  appears  in  all  its  clearness  in  legend.  By 
means  of  legends,  a  people  expresses  its  desires, 
its  aspirations,  its  ideal,  later  translated  into  facts, 
and  expresses  them  with  precision  so  much  the 
greater  as  the  form  of  the  legend  is  vague  and  its 
web  loose.  In  legend  we  have  first  a  narrative,  in 
itself  without  historic  value,  and  then  the  idea, 
which  is  crystallized  in  the  narrative  form,  and 
which  answers  to  a  real  sentiment,  reproduced  with 
the  greatest  clearness,  and  therefore  of  consider- 
able value  to  the  historian.  In  this  sense  legend 
should  be  invested  with  authority  of  a  certain  kind, 
and  this  is  the  authority  that  the  Haggada  may  lay 
claim  to.  In  the  Haggada,  we  find  local  color ;  it 
conveys  Jewish  manners,  customs,  and  beliefs,  the 
spirit  of  the  institutions  and  the  religion,  in  a  word, 
the  soul  and  the  life  of  the  nation. 

To  complete  this  all  too  superficial  examination 
of  the  Haggada,  there  remains  for  us  to  speak  of 
its  moral  and  religious  philosophy.  The  Quarterly 
Review  writer,  with  the  warmth  characteristic  of 
his  fine  plea  for  the  Talmud,  has  given  an  eloquent 
exposition  of  the  system,  reproducing  Abraham 
Nager's  substantial  contribution  to  the  subject. 
We  shall  give  a  resume*  of  the  same  work,  supply- 
ing certain  features  that  were  omitted  and  that  to 
us  appear  important. 

In  the  beginning  there  was  nothing.  God,  by  an 
act  of  His  will,  created  matter  or  the  first  sub- 
stance, according  to  some,  water,  according  to 
others,  water,  air,  and  fire,  and  organizing  these 
elements,  He  formed,  "in  His  own  good  time,"  the 


48  THE   TALMUD 

world  as  it  is.  God,  then,  is  at  once  "creator  and 
architect." — What  was  the  process  of  creation? 
That  is  a  mystery.  Certain  it  is  that  the  angels 
had  naught  to  do  with  it,  for  they  were  formed  at 
the  earliest  on  the  second  day  of  creation,  "  that  it 
might  not  be  said :  Michael  stretched  out  the  firm- 
ament to  the  north,  and  Gabriel  to  the  south."  But 
the  world  once  created,  Providence  brought  nothing 
to  pass  "without  consulting  the  celestial  house- 
hold." Besides,  there  is  an  angel,  "  the  master  of 
the  world,"  who  is  the  intermediary  between  heaven 
and  earth,  Metatron,  that  is,  the  one  seated  near 
the  heavenly  throne  (meta  thronos).  Each  nation, 
nevertheless,  has  its  special  tutelary  angel,  as  well 
as  its  guardian  constellations,  with  the  exception  of 
Israel,  who  has  "neither  angel  nor  constellation,  so 
long  as  he  observes  the  divine  law."  Israel  stands 
under  the  eye  of  God  Himself. 

At  the  same  time  with  the  world,  God  created 
miracles,  which  thenceforth  fall  under  the  immut- 
able laws  of  nature  regulating  the  universe  despite 
the  evil  that  may  result.  Creation  has  for  its  end 
man,  who  in  turn  is  to  use  the  world  to  execute 
the  will  of  God  on  earth,  the  aim  of  creation  thus 
being  the  realization  of  the  divine  here  below.  "If 
Israel  accepts  the  Law  (all  other  nations  having 
refused  it),  God  will  maintain  the  world ;  if  not, 
He  will  cause  it  to  drop  back  into  nothingness." 
The  aim  of  man  on  earth,  then,  is  the  knowledge 
and  the  practice  of  the  Law,  "without  which  there 
were  neither  heaven  nor  earth  " — the  Law  "on 
which  God  had  His  eye  fixed  when  He  created  the 


THE    TALMUD  49 

universe,  as  the  mason  that  builds  a  house  has  in 
mind  the  plans  and  the  external  appearance." 
Man  endowed  with  free  will,  "created  last  on  the 
eve  of  the  Sabbath,  that  he  might  at  once  take  his 
place  at  the  holy  banquet,"  ought  therefore  to 
strive  endlessly  for  perfection,  which  eventually 
renders  him  superior  to  the  angels,  for,  in  spite  of 
their  eternal  and  infinite  perfection,  they  are  with- 
out liberty,  and  neither  earn  commendation  nor 
incur  censure. 

How  is  this  perfection  reached  ?  By  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Law  and  the  doing  of  good  deeds.  Use- 
less to  give  examples  of  the  morality  of  the  Phari- 
sees. The  subject  is  too  familiar.  It  is  well  known 
that  the  Talmud  may  lay  claim  to  the  most  exalted 
ideals  of  goodness  that  human  mind  can  conceive 
of,  and  that  all  the  moral  ideas  incorporated  in  the 
Gospels  had  long  before  passed  from  mouth  to 
mouth  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem.  Glance  through 
the  Mishnic  treatise  Aboth,  and  you  will  find  all 
that  the  most  delicate  charity,  the  most  refined  and 
intelligent  kindliness  can  inspire  into  souls  nat- 
urally disposed  to  the  good.  Human  dignity,  the 
sacredness  of  manual  labor,  the  superiority  of  good 
works  over  learning,  the  equality  of  men  before 
the  divine  tribunal,  no  matter  what  religion  they 
may  profess, — these  are  the  great  principles  asserted 
and  preached  by  the  Haggada  on  every  page. 

The  Talmud,  says  Nager,  has  its  peculiar  psy- 
chology. In  a  number  of  passages  the  Platonic 
theory  of  the  pre-existence  of  souls  is  stated,  but 
nowhere  does  metempsychosis  appear.  Plato's 
4 


5O  THE    TALMUD 

doctrine  appealed  to  the  poetic  imagination  of  the 
Rabbis  more  than  the  Aristotelian  theory,  which 
made  of  the  soul  the  entelechy  of  the  body.  All 
the  souls  called  to  terrestrial  life  were  created  in 
the  beginning,  and  kept  in  reserve.  They  have 
all-embracing  knowledge  of  the  Law  up  to  the 
moment  in  which  they  unite  with  a  body.  Then  an 
angel  closes  the  mouth  of  the  child,  and  the  soul 
forgets  all  it  knew. — No  original  sin :  "As  God  is 
pure,  so  the  soul  is  pure." — Every  child  on  leav- 
ing its  mother's  womb  is  made  to  swear  by  an 
angel  that  it  will  be  just.  "  Be  assured,"  he  says  to 
it,  "that  God  is  pure,  that  His  servants  are  pure, 
and  that  the  soul  given  to  thee  is  also  pure."  In 
one  passage,  however,  a  teacher  speaks  of  the  crime 
of  Adam,  which  recoils  on  the  whole  of  mankind. 
"When  the  serpent  tempted  Eve,  it  corrupted 
her  with  its  venom.  Israel,  by  being  witness 
of  the  Revelation  at  Sinai,  was  cured  of  the  dis- 
ease; "the  idolaters  could  not  be  cured."  But  in 
general  the  story  of  the  first  sin  has  not  found  an 
echo  in  the  teachings  of  the  sages.  Elsewhere  it 
is  expressly  said  :  "  No  death  without  sin,  no  grief 
without  fault."  It  is  also  said  that  children  dying 
in  infancy  or  at  birth  may  enter  into  the  future 
life. 

Whence,  then,  comes  sin  ?  From  man's  free 
will.  "  Everything  is  foreseen,"  says  Akiba,  "  but 
liberty  is  granted."  And  elsewhere  :  "  Everything 
is  in  the  power  of  God  except  the  fear  of  God." 

Human  destiny  is  not  fulfilled  here  below;  the 
other  world  is  the  soul's  true  home.  This  earth  is 


THE   TALMUD  51 

but  "the  caravansary  by  the  wayside,"  in  which  a 
brief  rest  is  taken.  The  dogmas  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  and  a  future  life  are  energetically  as- 
serted by  the  Rabbis,  who  regard  their  negation  as 
veritable  heresy.  But  how  is  one  to  understand  the 
entrance  into  the  future  life  ?  Do  you  understand 
the  entrance  into  this  life  ?  Death  and  birth  re- 
semble each  other,  say  the  Rabbis.  Suppose  a  child 
in  its  mother's  womb  to  know  that  after  the  lapse 
of  a  few  months  it  will  leave  the  place  it  occupies. 
That  would  seem  to  it  the  most  grievous  event  that 
could  happen.  It  is  so  comfortable  in  the  element 
that  surrounds  it,  and  protects  it  against  outside 
influences  !  However,  the  time  of  separation  ap- 
proaches ;  with  terror  it  sees  the  protecting  envel- 
opes torn  asunder,  and  it  believes  that  the  hour  of 
death  has  arrived.  But  the  moment  of  leaving  its 
little  world  marks  the  beginning  of  a  nobler,  more 
beautiful,  more  perfect  life,  which  lasts  until  a  voice 
again  sounds  at  its  ear  proclaiming :  Thou  must 
leave  earth,  as  thou  didst  leave  thy  mother's  womb, 
and,  stripping  off  this  earthly  vesture,  thou  must 
once  more  die,  once  more  begin  life. 

A  new  life  opens  for  man,  a  life  wholly  spiritual, 
in  which  he  receives  the  recompense  or  the  chas- 
tisement for  his  conduct  here  below.  "  In  the 
world  to  come,  there  is  neither  eating,  nor  drink- 
ing, nor  any  material  pleasure  ;  but  the  just  sit 
there  with  crowns  on  their  heads,  and  delight  in 
the  glory  of  the  Divine  Presence." — "The  souls  of 
the  just,  at  the  foot  of  the  celestial  throne,  contem- 
plate the  splendor  of  God."  Those  of  the  impious 


52  THE   TALMUD 

are  condemned  to  the  torments  of  the  nether 
world.  Eternal  punishment  is  reserved  for  well- 
defined  classes  of  sinners,  as,  for  example,  those 
who  knowing  the  Law  have  entirely  abjured  it,  and 
those  who  not  only  sin  themselves,  but  draw  others 
into  crime.  The  description  of  these  tortures  is 
vague  and  contradictory,  as  is  that  of  the  lower  re- 
gions themselves.  In  fact,  the  Talmud  gives  us, 
not  so  much  a  system,  as  a  series  of  individual  opin- 
ions. The  fire  in  the  Valley  of  Hinnom  {gt-Hin- 
nom,  gehenne)  plays  the  principal  role.  As  the 
Rabbis  incline  more  or  less  to  the  popular  beliefs, 
the  descriptions  are  more  or  less  material.  The 
same  holds  good  in  the  descriptions  of  future  re- 
wards. For  instance,  we  have  the  peculiar  belief 
that  the  flesh  of  the  Leviathan,  preserved  in  salt 
since  the  first  days  of  creation,  will  be  divided  among 
the  just,  and  that  from  its  tanned  hide  tents  will  be 
made  whose  brilliancy  will  fill  the  universe.  Such 
fantastic  features,  equally  characteristic  of  the  hell 
and  the  paradise  of  the  middle  ages,  do  not  affect 
the  elevated  spirituality  pervading  these  beliefs. 
Thus  we  have  one  Rabbi  denying  the  very  existence 
of  hell.  "There  is  no  hell  in  the  future  world," 
says  R.  Simon  ben  Lakish.  "  But  the  Most  Holy 
makes  to  shine  His  sun,  whose  splendor  fills  the 
righteous  with  happiness,  and  causes  the  wicked  to 
suffer."  Thus  the  soul  finds  reward  or  punishment 
within  itself.  The  student  recognizes,  to  use  the 
expression  of  the  schools,  the  subjective  character 
of  the  sanction  attached  to  the  moral  law. 

Such  are  the  teachings  transmitted  by  the  Hag- 


THE   TALMUD  53 

gada,  and  spread  among  the  people  by  popular 
preaching.  They  were  conveyed  in  a  peculiar  and 
rather  original  form  well  worthy  of  description. 
All  of  them  were  connected  with  the  Bible,  to 
which  the  Rabbis  considered  themselves  obliged  to 
trace  the  ideas  they  developed.  It  is  the  applica- 
tion to  the  Haggada  of  the  method  created  by  R. 
Akiba  for  the  Halacha.  The  orator  took  a  verse, 
which  he  commented  on  in  a  thousand  ingenious 
ways,  educing  from  it  all  sorts  of  moral  lessons.  It 
mattered  little  to  him,  if  he  did  violence  to  the 
words,  or  abused  a  grammatical  construction,  or 
changed  letters  or  words  according  to  his  caprice. 
Equally  little  it  concerned  his  listeners,  who, 
however,  were  not  deceived,  knowing  as  well  as 
himself  the  fantastic  character  of  his  explanations. 
But  nothing  equals  the  ease  with  which  they  ac- 
cepted them,  for  they  craved  only  edification.  Yet 
the  preacher  called  to  his  aid  allegory,  parable,  le- 
gend, which  accompanied  the  commentary  on  the 
text,  and  sometimes  even  were  confused  with  it. 
And  as  he  had  the  powerful  and  facile  imagination 
of  the  Oriental,  he  needed  only  the  gift  of  fluent 
speech  to  charm  an  audience  disposed  to  yield  to 
his  fascinations,  convinced  in  advance,  and  happy 
to  hear  another  give  utterance  to  the  feelings  hid- 
den in  their  hearts.  The  orator  might  be  one  of 
the  doctors  of  the  Halacha  that  addressed  the 
congregations  assembled  in  the  synagogues  on  days 
of  reunion,  Sabbaths  or  holidays.  In  such  cases 
true  homilies  were  pronounced.  But  usually  the 
speaker  was  any  chance  person  that  gathered  a 


54  THE   TALMUD 

crowd  about  him  on  the  street,  and  held  it  under 
the  spell  of  his  improvisations.  Such  were  Judah, 
the  son  of  Seripheus,  and  Matathias,  the  son  of 
Margaloth,  those  victims  of  Herod  of  whom  Jo- 
sephus  speaks,  those  beloved  orators  endowed  with 
the  gift  of  inspiring  crowds  and  enkindling  popular 
risings.  "  Who  wishes  to  live,  to  live  long  ? "  cries 
an  Aggadist  in  the  open  street.  "  Who  wishes  to 
buy  happiness  ? "  The  original  questions  attract 
a  crowd  demanding  to  know  the  orator's  secret. 
"Thou  desirest  to  live  many  days,"  he  answers, 
"thou  wishest  to  enjoy  peace  and  happiness? 
Keep  thy  tongue  from  evil,  and  thy  lips  from  speak- 
ing guile.  Seek  peace,  and  pursue  it.  Depart  from 
the  evil,  and  do  good."  And  paraphrasing  these 
words  of  the  Psalmist  (Ps.  xxxiv,  13-15),  he  devel- 
ops his  ideas  in  the  midst  of  the  attentive  crowd. 
What,  in  fact,  was  the  importance  of  Aggadistic 
teaching?  Assuredly  it  had  considerable  value. 
The  study  of  the  Halacha  could  have  appealed  only 
to  a  restricted  part  of  the  Jewish  population.  The 
schools  and  the  academies  doubtless  were  fre- 
quented by  a  large  number  of  disciples,  eager  to 
listen  to  the  instruction  of  the  Rabbis.  But  they 
by  no  means  constituted  the  kernel  of  the  popula- 
tion, and  what  was  there  for  the  people  outside  of 
this  popular  preaching,  these  moral  lessons  given 
by  men  that  spoke  its  simple  language,  and  put 
themselves  on  a  level  with  it  ?  The  Rabbis  them- 
selves, whose  erudition  raised  the  great  monu- 
ment of  the  Halacha,  did  not  disdain  to  speak  to 
the  populace  and,  dropping  all  scientific  apparel, 


THE   TALMUD  55 

array  themselves  in  the  simplicity  of  heart 
and  the  ingenuousness  of  the  humble  men  they 
addressed.  A  number  of  names  might  be  cited. 
One  will  suffice,  that  of  Akiba,  the  first  redactor 
of  the  Mishna,  whom  the  admiration  of  his  con- 
temporaries placed  by  the  side  of  Moses,  and  who, 
says  the  Talmud,  was  great  in  the  Halacha  and 
equally  great  in  the  Haggada.  Nevertheless,  it  is 
easy  to  recognize  two  well-marked  tendencies,  two 
distinct  movements,  and  at  first  sight  it  is  evident 
that,  though  these  two  movements  were  sometimes 
parallel,  they  might  sometimes  contradict  each 
other.  Were  all  the  Halachist  doctors  Aggadists  ? 
Obviously  not.  The  Halacha  and  the  Haggada  de- 
manded opposite  gifts ;  they  illustrate  the  natural 
opposition  between  science  and  poetry.  Again, 
the  Haggada  was  calculated  to  bring  about  by  in- 
sensible degrees  the  predominance  of  inner  religion 
over  external  forms  and  the  depreciation  of  observ- 
ances and  ceremonies — an  instinctive  tendency 
bound  to  work  its  effect  upon  logical  minds ;  a 
germ  of  dissidence  apt  to  grow  and  lead  to  the 
separation  of  Halachists  and  Aggadists. 

These  inferences  find  full  confirmation  in  the 
study  of  facts.  We  are  fortunate  to  be  able  to 
shelter  ourselves  behind  the  authority  of  the 
learned  author  of  the  Essay  on  the  History  of  Pales- 
tine:  "The  inhabitants  of  Galilee,"  says  M.  De- 
renbourg  (p.  350),  "in  ill  repute  on  account  of  their 
ignorance  of  legal  affairs,  seem  to  have  replaced 
subtlety  of  mind  by  ardor  of  heart,  and  supplied 
lack  of  ability  for  brilliant  tilts  in  scholastic  discus- 


56  THE   TALMUD 

sions  by  excessive  energy  of  feeling  and  tricks  of 
expression,  original  rather  than  delicate.  One 
always  ends  by  attaching  little  value  to  what  one 
is  ignorant  of,  and  has  not  been  able  to  learn,  espe- 
cially if  success  comes  in  despite  of  ignorance,  and 
seems  to  come  precisely  from  a  quarter  despised 
by  the  informed  and  instructed.  The  merchant 
Hanania,  who  converted  the  young  prince  of  Adia- 
bene  to  Judaism,  did  not  scruple  to  absolve  him  from 
the  duty  of  circumcision,  considering  it  binding 
only  on  the  seed  of  Abraham.  The  Aggadists, 
indeed,  learned  from  Isaiah  and  even  Jeremiah  a 
certain  disdain  for  ceremonial  observances,  which 
naturally  reacted  on  the  Halachists  occupied  with 
hairsplitting  casuistry  on  the  subject  of  those  very 
ceremonies.  .  .  . 

"  Doubtless  there  were  men  who,  though  devoted 
to  Rabbinic  science,  still  occupied  themselves  with 
the  instruction  of  the  people  at  the  synagogues  in 
religious  truths,  which  they  sought  to  support  with 
texts  from  the  poetic  portions  of  the  Scriptures. 
But  it  is  equally  certain  that  others,  by  reason  of 
temperament  or  inclination,  gave  themselves  up  to 
the  one  or  the  other  development  of  Judaism  exclu- 
sively. A  glance  at  the  Talmuds  and  the  Midrashim 
suffices  to  reveal  many  names  that  figure  in  the 
Halacha,  and  are  never  met  with  in  the  Agada,  as 
likewise  Aggadists  are  found  that  are  never  men- 
tioned in  the  Halachic  discussions.  To  become  an 
Aggadist  only  ardent  conviction,  lively  imagina- 
tion, and  facility  of  invention  were  necessary — quali- 
ties not  rare  in  times  when  oppression  by  aliens 


THE   TALMUD  57 

revives  national  zeal,  and  among  a  people  that 
receives  impressions  rapidly,  and  promptly  trans- 
lates them  into  words.  An  Aggadist,  then,  could 
be  produced  without  great  difficulty,  but  long  and 
serious  study  was  necessary  to  penetrate  to  the 
depths  of  the  Halacha.  As  the  value  of  a  thing  is 
usually  measured  by  the  difficulties  surmounted  in 
its  acquisition,  the  Halachists  in  their  turn  under- 
rated the  preachers  or  Aggadists,  who,  as  said 
above,  were  not  always  charmed  with  the  deduc- 
tions of  the  Rabbis. 

"  The  Talmuds  have  preserved  numerous  indica- 
tions of  the  slight  repute  in  which  the  Aggadists 
were  held  by  the  Rabbis.  If,  however,  the  passages 
relating  to  this  subject  contradict  each  other,  and 
if  a  Rabbi  who  but  now  extolled  preaching  speaks 
of  it  scornfully,  we  must  not  be  surprised ;  they 
are  judgments  rendered  under  the  influence  of  an 
Agada  recently  heard,  and  are  determined  by  the 
more  or  less  respectful  attitude  assumed  in  it  to- 
wards Rabbinic  studies.  Disdain  for  the  Halacha 
has  found  a  place  particularly  in  Christian  writings 
and  in  the  school  of  St.  Paul.  We  think  that  we 
do  not  err  in  maintaining  that  at  its  birth  the  Ag- 
gadists were  the  most  powerful  auxiliaries  of  Chris- 
tianity." 

The  results  of  historic  criticism,  then,  establish 
the  justness  of  the  deductions  reached  by  psycho- 
logic observation.  Human  nature  is  too  feeble  to 
attain  to  a  complete  expansion  of  all  its  faculties  ; 
one  of  them  at  least  is  sacrificed  to  the  cultivation 
of  the  others.  Some  pursue  the  ideal  of  the  good, 


$8  THE   TALMUD 

others  that  of  the  true,  and  only  in  rare  instances 
is  the  perfection  at  once  of  knowledge  and  of  good- 
ness reached.  Surely  what  is  true  of  the  individual 
is  with  greater  force  true  of  the  crowd,  in  which 
tendencies  realize  and  assert  themselves  more 
powerfully.  Judaism  is  proof  thereof,  but  not  the 
only  proof.  Without  going  far  afield,  we  find  an 
illustration  of  a  similar  phenomenon  in  the  Cathol- 
icism of  the  middle  ages.  It  likewise  offers  the 
spectacle  of  these  two  opposite  currents  swaying 
the  minds  of  men  in  the  rivalry  of  its  two  monastic 
orders,  the  Benedictine  and  the  Franciscan,  the 
learned  order  and  the  mendicant  order,  which  epit- 
omize their  duties,  the  one,  in  the  pursuit  of  the 
true,  the  other,  in  the  pursuit  of  the  good,  and 
which — to  conclude  with  an  expression  of  the  Rab- 
bis— might  have  said,  the  former,  truth  saves  from 
death,  the  latter,  charity  saves  from  death.1 

1  It  may  be  useful  to  give  here  a  list  of  the  books  composing 
the  Haggada  literature.  This  literature  comprises  only  exe- 
getic  explanations  or  Scripture  interpretations  given  in  the 
synagogues  or  in  popular  homilies.  The  epithet  Midrash,  or 
explanation,  was  applied  to  them.  The  chief  collections  of 
Midrashim  are  the  following : 

The  great  Pesikta,  or  Pesikta  Rabbathi,  of  Palestinian 
origin,  attributed  to  R.  Cahana. 

The  Midrash  Rabba,  Haggadistic  commentary  on  the 
Pentateuch  and  the  books  of  Esther,  Ecclesiastes,  Song  of 
Songs,  Ruth,  and  Lamentations. 

The  Midrash  Yelamdenu  and  the  Tanchuma  on  the 
Pentateuch. 

The  Midrash  Shokher  Tob  on  the  Psalms  and  the  Proverbs. 

The  compilation  of  these  Midrashim,  most  of  them  very 
ancient,  cannot  be  traced  back  further  than  the  sixth  century. 


THE    TALMUD  59 

A  number  of  Midrashim  on  the  Prophets  have  been  lost,  or 
are  still  reposing  on  the  shelves  of  various  European  libraries. 
In  the  twelfth  century,  a  Rabbi,  Simeon,  conceived  the  idea  of 
making  a  compilation  of  diverse  Midrashim.  This  compila- 
tion, which  bears  the  name  Yalkut  Shimeoni,  or  Simeon's 
Collection,  has  preserved  a  number  of  Midrashim  that  would 
otherwise  not  have  reached  us. 


60  THE    TALMUD 


PART  SECOND 

THE   FORMATION    OF    THE   TALMUD— 
THE  SPIRIT  OF  ITS  FORMATION 

THE  essential  character  of  every  revealed  re- 
ligion is  immutability.  Claiming  the  exclusive 
possession  of  the  truth,  it  cannot  admit  that  it 
modifies  itself  at  the  will  of  the  times,  and  follows 
the  march  of  human  thought  in  its  successive 
transformations.  For  truth  issuing  from  God  is 
immutable ;  an  expression  of  divinity,  it  may  apply 
to  itself  the  biblical  word,  "  I  am  that  I  am." 
Like  Catholicism,  Judaism  declares  emphatically 
that  religion  has  suffered  no  change  during  the 
long  series  of  centuries.  As  it  was  revealed  to 
Moses,  as  such  it  has  perpetuated  itself  to  our  day, 
unaffected  by  the  influence  of  the  ages  and  of  di- 
verse civilizations.  Potentially  it  was  contained 
in  the  principles  taught  at  Sinai,  and  Moses,  seeing 
the  future  of  the  nation  and  the  religion  founded 
by  himself  unroll  before  him,  could  embrace  in  a 
single  glance  the  vast,  yet  homogeneous  succes- 
sion of  laws  and  doctrines. 

Now  Judaism  finds  its  expression  in  the  Talmud, 
which  is  not  a  remote  suggestion  and  a  faint  echo 
thereof,  but  in  which  it  has  become  incarnate,  in 
which  it  has  taken  form,  passing  from  the  state  of 
an  abstraction  into  the  domain  of  real  things.  The 


THE   TALMUD  6l 

study  of  Judaism  is  that  of  the  Talmud,  as  the 
study  of  the  Talmud  is  that  of  Judaism.  To  wish 
to  understand  one  without  entering  upon  the  ex- 
planation of  the  other  is  chimerical.  They  are  two 
inseparable  things,  or  better,  they  are  one  and  the 
same. 

But  the  expression  Talmud  is  here  limited  to 
Halacha.  For,  besides  its  information  on  various 
sciences,  besides  its  moral  principles  which  have 
been  codified,  and  so  fall  under  the  Halacha,  the 
Haggada  contains  only  legends,  fables,  the  whole 
poetic  literature  of  the  Midrashim.  As  one  would 
not  think  of  going  to  the  legends  of  the  Virgin,  of 
the  saints,  and  of  Satan  for  the  study  of  the  Cath- 
olic dogmas,  so  the  religious  idea  of  Judaism  in  its 
primary  and  essential  form  must  not  be  sought  in 
Midrashic  literature. 

To  the  Halacha  alone,  then,  attention  must  be 
paid  in  order  to  understand  the  Talmud  and  trace 
the  law  of  its  genesis.  It  is  the  only  letter  in 
which  Judaism  has  embodied  itself.  In  point  of 
fact,  when  the  Synagogue  is  questioned  about  the 
origin  of  tradition,  we  are  told  that  the  oral  Law 
ascends  to  the  Sinaitic  revelation,  that  its  develop- 
ment is  deductive,  and  shaped  by  unalterable  prin- 
ciples, and  that  this  astounding  efflorescence  of 
Halachoth  is  only  the  natural  expansion  of  a  primi- 
tive law  and  idea.  "  The  Scriptures,  the  decisions 
of  the  Rabbis,  and  all  that  a  reverent  disciple  of 
the  Law  may  teach,  were  given  to  Moses  on  Sinai." 


62  THE  TALMUD 


THE  HALACHA  ACCORDING  TO  THE  SYNAGOGUE 

IT  is  a  cardinal  principle  of  Judaism  that,  along 
with  the  code  comprised  in  the  Pentateuch,  Moses 
received  from  God  on  Mount  Sinai  an  oral  Law, 
which  is  the  commentary  developed  from  the  writ- 
ten Law.  Not  a  precept,  not  a  decision,  not  a 
ceremonial  injunction  was  left  unaccompanied  by 
oral  explanations,  which  Moses  was  to  transmit  by 
word  of  mouth.  These  explanations,  moreover, 
were  of  the  same  sacred  character  as  the  written 
Law.  In  its  conciseness,  the  latter  often  is  ob- 
scure ;  it  is  incomplete,  for  usually  it  proceeds  by 
examples ;  sometimes  even  it  consists  of  apparent 
contradictions,  sometimes  of  seemingly  useless 
repetitions.  Examples  abound  :  "  At  the  mouth  of 
two  witnesses,  or  at  the  mouth  of  three  witnesses 
shall  the  matter  be  established,"  it  says  in  Deuter- 
onomy xix,  15.  Is  it  two?  Is  it  three?  In  Le- 
viticus xxi,  12,  the  high  priest  is  forbidden  to  go 
out  of  the  sanctuary.  Under  what  circumstances  ? 
Is  he  to  be  shut  up  in  it  all  his  life  ?  Elsewhere  it 
is  said:  "Thou  shalt  kill  animals  as  I  have  com- 
manded thee."  Where  is  this  command  ?  A 
second  passage  relative  to  this  ordinance  would 
be  sought  in  vain  in  the  whole  Pentateuch.  The 
obligation  to  "lay  Tephilin,"  one  of  the  essential 


THE   TALMUD  63 

observances  of  Judaism,  is  barely  indicated  by  a 
word.  On  the  other  hand,  the  following  is  found 
in  three  different  places  :  "  Thou  shalt  not  seethe 
a  kid  in  its  mother's  milk."  Elsewhere  historic 
facts  in  complete  contradiction  to  the  Law  are 
told,  although  the  men  to  whom  they  are  attributed 
are  charged  with  the  duty  of  teaching  the  Law. 

The  pious  king  Hezekiah  celebrates  the  Passover 
in  the  second  month,  although  Moses  fixes  it  on  the 
fifteenth  day  of  the  first  month.  The  prophet  Eli- 
jah offers  a  sacrifice  on  Carmel,  in  spite  of  the  law 
in  Deuteronomy  forbidding  sacrifices  outside  of  the 
Temple.  Finally,  in  another  sphere  of  ideas,  a 
striking  feature  of  the  Books  of  Moses  is  their  un- 
broken silence  concerning  primary  dogmas  of  the 
Jewish  religion,  the  dogmas  of  the  immortality  of 
the  soul  and  the  future  life.  These  are  not  the  only 
examples.  A  considerable  number  of  similar  facts, 
of  obscure  laws  that  cannot  do  without  explanation, 
of  important  omissions,  and  of  apparent  contradic- 
tions, might  be  collated.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  the 
written  Law  stands  in  need  of  a  perpetual  commen- 
tary. This  is  the  commentary  received  by  Moses 
on  Mount  Sinai.  Thence  its  name :  The  Law  of 
Moses  from  Sinai  (Halacha  le-Mosht  mis-Sina'i  — 
lex  ad  Mosem  e  Sinai).  This  Law  descended  orally 
from  generation  to  generation.  "  Moses,"  says  the 
Mishna,"  received  the  (traditional)  Law  on  Sinai,  and 
transmitted  it  to  Joshua ;  Joshua  transmitted  it  to  the 
Elders  ;  the  Elders  transmitted  it  to  the  Prophets, 
and  the  Prophets  to  the  Men  of  the  Great  Assem- 
bly." The  Great  Assembly,  to  which  the  last  three 


64  THE   TALMUD 

prophets,  HaggaT,  Zechariah,  and  Malachi,belonged, 
finally  transmit  the  oral  Law  to  the  teachers  that 
succeed  each  other  from  the  coming  of  the  Seleu- 
cidae  into  Syria  to  the  second  century  of  the  Chris- 
tian era. 

The  oral  Law  was  never  to  be  entrusted  to  writ- 
ing, but  was  to  remain  in  the  memory  of.  men  and 
form  a  living  tradition.  But  when  the  misfortunes 
that  began  to  break  in  upon  the  people  in  the  days 
of  the  last  Maccabees  imperilled  the  preservation 
of  the  sacred  pledge ;  when  Titus  had  destroyed  the 
Temple,  and  Hadrian  had  scattered  the  Jewish 
people,  and  proscribed  the  study  of  the  Law,  it 
was  feared  that  the  chain  of  tradition  might  be  rup- 
tured, and  the  oral  Law  disappear  in  the  cataclysm 
that  swept  away  Jewish  nationality.  For  the  sake 
of  the  welfare  of  Judaism,  R.  Judah  the  Holy  de- 
cided to  violate  the  prohibition  and  reduce  the 
oral  Law  to  writing.  This  was  the  origin  of  the 
Mishna. 

The  synagogue  declares  that  from  the  Sinaitic 
revelation  until  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple,  after 
the  return  from  the  Captivity,  even  until  within  a 
short  time  before  the  Christian  era,  the  oral  Law 
maintained  itself  intact,  without  uncertainty  or 
obscurity.  After  the  return,  the  novel  conditions 
surrounding  the  nation  brought  up  new  problems 
for  which  tradition  offered  no  solution.  What 
were  the  Rabbis  to  do  ?  Obviously  classify  them 
by  means  of  certain  ratiocinative  processes  under 
cases  provided  for  by  tradition.  These  exegetic 
processes  themselves  are  taught  by  tradition.  God 


THE   TALMUD  65 

had  foreseen  that  a  day  would  come  when  certain 
religious  prescriptions  would  sink  into  oblivion, 
when  new  questions  would  obtrude  themselves, 
and  He  gave  unto  Moses  a  hermeneutic  system,  by 
virtue  of  which  the  decisions  of  the  oral  Law  might 
be  rediscovered  in  the  written  Law,  all  the  teach- 
ings of  tradition  might  be  brought  into  connection 
with  the  text,  and  general  principles  confidently 
applied  to  new  details  and  unforeseen  cases.  The 
only  thing  to  be  done,  therefore,  was  to  make  the 
points  under  discussion  submit  to  these  hermeneutic 
processes.  But  differences  of  opinion  might  thus 
arise.  For,  though  the  applicability  of  certain  prin- 
ciples might  be  so  obvious  as  to  force  immediate  and 
unanimous  assent,  sometimes  there  might,  on  the 
other  hand,  be  reason  for  hesitation  and  discussion. 
In  these  cases  a  vote  was  decisive,  likewise  in  ac- 
cordance with  a  principle  established  by  the  Scrip- 
tures, that,  to  employ  the  biblical  expression,  the 
multitude  ought  to  be  followed.  A  majority  makes 
the  law.  The  following  account  from  the  Mishna  is 
a  curious  illustration.  "Akabia  ben  Mahalalel  main- 
tained four  propositions.  The  Rabbis  said  to  him  : 
Abandon  them,  and  we  shall  give  you  the  title  of 
the  chief  of  the  Great  Council.  He  replied  :  I  pre- 
fer to  be  considered  a  fool  all  the  days  of  my  life  to 
appearing  infamous  for  a  single  instant  before  God 
by  surrendering  my  convictions  in  exchange  for 
honors.  .  .  Nevertheless,  at  the  point  of  death,  he 
said  to  his  son :  Abandon  the  four  propositions 
that  I  have  taught  thee. — And  why  didst  thou 
not  yield  ? — Because  I  had  received  them  from  teach- 

5 


66  THE    TALMUD 

ers  as  numerous  as  those  who  had  taught  my  adver- 
saries the  opposite  opinions,  and  I  stipported  what  I 
had  learnt  as  firmly  as  they  maintained  their  tradi- 
tions. But  as  for  you,  you  have  learned  the  four 
decisions  only  from  me,  and  an  individual '  s  opinions 
ought  to  give  way  before  those  of  a  number. — To  this 
principle  add  the  other  that  numbers  being  equal, 
the  opinions  of  the  older  teachers  prevail  over  those 
of  the  more  recent  ones.  And  that  is  just.  For 
truth  is  subject  to  change  as  the  distance  from  its 
origin  across  the  ages  lengthens ;  and  though 
divergence  of  opinions  began  to  manifest  itself 
only  very  late,  and  H  illel  and  Shammai',  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Christian  era,  were  at  variance  on 
only  three  points,  yet  in  the  space  of  three  cen- 
turies differences  multiplied  so  extensively  as  to 
produce  the  vast  "sea  of  the  Talmud."  It  is 
natural,  then,  that  an  opinion  which  has  come  down 
to  us  through  few  intermediaries  should  have  more 
weight  than  one  that  has  passed  through  many 
mouths.  An  Amora,  or  teacher  of  the  Law  poste- 
rior to  the  compilation  of  the  Mishna,  cannot  pre- 
vail against  a  Tana,  or  teacher  of  the  Mishna,  no 
more  than  a  Tana  can  enforce  an  opinion  opposed 
by  the  Dibre  Sopherim,  the  words  of  the  Scribes. 
With  these  principles  regulating  the  discussion, 
the  development  was  most  simple ;  nothing  was 
left  to  arbitrary  chance.  Discussion  reduced  itself 
to  a  deductive  process.  New  laws  were  sacred  by 
the  same  warrant  as  the  revealed  laws,  since  the 
latter  enjoined  the  former  by  implication.  The 
work  of  the  Rabbis  consisted  simply  in  educing 


THE   TALMUD  6? 

them,  and  we  arrive  at  the  explanation  of  the  Tal- 
mudic  sentence :  "  The  Scriptures,  Tradition,  the 
decisions  of  the  Rabbis,  and  all  that  a  reverent  dis- 
ciple of  the  Law  may  teach,  were  given  to  Moses 
on  Sinai." 

Such  is  this  theory  of  tradition,  a  theory  remark- 
able for  simplicity  and  consistency,  and  based  upon 
a  profoundly  true  view.  Even  if  criticism  cannot 
throw  brilliant  light  upon  the  history  of  tradition 
in  its  primitive  stages,  it  cannot  fail  to  confirm  the 
correctness  of  the  view,  that  the  development  of 
the  Halacha  was  logical  and  necessary,  as  we  pro- 
pose to  demonstrate  in  the  following  pages. 


II 

HISTORY   OF   THE   FORMATION   OF   THE    HALACHA 

ONE  of  the  most  curious  problems  in  the  history 
of  religions  assuredly  is  that  presented  by  the  state 
of  the  Jews  on  their  return  from  the  Captivity.  Up 
to  the  last  moments  of  the  monarchy,  the  minds  of 
the  people  are  controlled  by  one  of  two  religious 
currents.  On  the  one  side  is  popular  superstition, 
the  grossly  sensual  idolatry  borrowed  from  Phen- 
icia,  against  which  the  Jeremiahs  and  the  Ezekiels 
thundered,  often  in  vain.  On  the  other  side  is  the 
elevated,  austere  spirituality  of  the  Prophets,  who 
3eek  to  lead  back  the  multitude  to  the  feet  of  Je- 
hovah's altars,  and  energetically  struggle  against 
the  depraving  tendencies  of  paganism.  On  the 
return  from  the  Exile,  two  changes  have  taken 


68  THE   TALMUD 

place.  The  whole  people  has  rallied  about  the 
religious  chiefs,  and  the  latter  are  no  longer  Proph- 
ets, but  Scribes.  Thenceforth  the  streets  of  Jeru- 
salem do  not  resound  with  the  eloquent  invectives 
of  the  Nebiim.  Instead,  the  explanations  and  the 
commentaries  of  the  Sopherim  fill  the  schools  and 
the  synagogues.  We  no  longer  have  dealings  with 
an  inconstant  people  hesitating  between  Baal  and 
Jehovah,  but  with  a  nation  that  has  made  its'  choice, 
and  enthusiastically  accepts  and  develops  a  cult, 
that  is,  a  well  co-ordinated  system  of  beliefs,  laws, 
and  practices.  Its  literature  suits  itself  to  this 
transformation.  No  longer  the  rich  and  vigorous 
efflorescence  to  which  we  owe  such  masterpieces  as 
the  Psalms,  Isaiah,  Job,  it  has  become  severe,  dog- 
matic, scholastic  instruction,  which  after  eight 
laborious  centuries  will  result  in  the  Talmud.  In 
a  word,  Hebraism  is  at  an  end,  Judaism  is  born. 
What  are  the  causes  of  the  transformation  ?  What 
series  of  circumstances  could  have  effected  it  in  so 
limited  a  period  as  the  Captivity  ?  Dark  questions, 
the  answers  to  which  may  be  guessed  at,  but  the 
elements  of  an  unimpeachable  solution  are  lack- 
ing. This  is  not  the  place  to  examine  and  discuss 
the  problem  ;  the  statement  of  the  change  must 
suffice. 

A  new  era  begins  for  Israel.  The  whole  nation 
crowds  about  the  Sopherim  to  hear  the  explanation 
of  the  Law.  It  is  learnt  by  heart,  it  is  commented 
upon.  Schools  of  Rabbis  spring  up,  which  charge 
themselves  with  the  duty  of  teaching  and  explain- 
ing the  sacred  word.  The  Bible,  the  Book,  espe- 


THE   TALMUD  6Q 

cially  the  Pentateuch,  Mikra,  that  is,  Reading, — 
this  is  the  only  mental  nourishment  indulged  in 
by  the  people.  It  is  the  aim  of  all  science,  and  it 
is  science  itself.  For  all  things  flow  from  the  Bible, 
as  all  converge  towards  it.  The  admonition  ad- 
dressed to  Joshua,  "  Thou  shalt  meditate  therein 
day  and  night,"  has  become  a  reality.  In  a  word, 
it  is  the  axis  on  which  turns  the  whole  activity  of 
the  Jewish  mind. 

Thus  originates  and  grows  the  study  of  the  Law, 
which  is  called  to  play  so  considerable  a  role,  and 
whence  springs  the  body  of  traditional  laws  that 
will  constitute  the  Talmud. 

How  do  these  traditional  laws  originate  ?  Un- 
less we  accept  the  theory  of  their  Sinaitic  origin, 
affirmed,  but  not  demonstrated,  by  the  Synagogue, 
the  historic  documents  fail  to  make  direct  answer 
to  this  question.  The  first  traces  of  these  tradi- 
tions are  met  with  late,  in  the  Septuagint,  in  the 
Books  of  the  Maccabees,  in  the  Book  of  Daniel, 
contemporary  with  the  Maccabees ;  but  they  suf- 
fice to  put  it  beyond  a  doubt  that  as  early  as  the 
time  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes  a  number  of  deci- 
sions were  definitely  established ;  that  even  then 
the  ceremonies  connected  with  the  cult  and  not 
indicated  in  the  Pentateuch  were  regulated ;  in  a 
word,  that  a  rather  extensive  system  of  observances 
and  laws  existed.  Doubtless  it  was  during  the 
long  period  of  more  than  250  years  from  Ezra  to 
the  Maccabean  rebellion  that  this  system  grew  up, 
and  imposed  itself  upon  the  Jewish  nation.  Jo- 
sephus  passes  over  this  religious  development  with 


7<D  THE    TALMUD 

profound  silence ;  but  it  is  well  known  that  for  this 
historian,  more  or  less  scrupulous  concerning  facts, 
the  history  of  beliefs,  ideas,  and  religious  institu- 
tions was  almost  as  though  non-existent.  How- 
ever, it  is  beyond  question  that  the  Men  of  the 
Great  Synagogue  developed  the  Mosaic  prescrip- 
tions, and  especially  by  their  personal  authority 
raised  "a  hedge"  about  the  Law.  It  is  not  possi- 
ble to  trace  the  traditional  system  further  back 
with  any  degree  of  certainty.  The  critical  study 
of  several  Mishnic  traditions  beginning  with  Has- 
monean  times  enables  us  to  follow  the  develop- 
ment of  Jewish  legislation,  at  once  religious  and 
civil.  The  searching  investigation  of  juridic  points 
led  to  its  gradual  extension.  In  the  civil  law  the 
extension  presents  no  peculiar  features,  its  only 
object  being  the  protection  of  the  interests  of  the 
individual  and  the  promotion  of  the  intercourse 
and  the  transactions  of  the  citizens  with  each 
other.  But  with  the  religious  law  the  case  was 
different.  Eminently  restrictive  in  character,  it 
was  developed  to  the  point  of  burdening  daily  life 
with  numerous  observances.  Its  decisions  multi- 
plied indefinitely,  and  each  became  the  fountain- 
head  for  others.  Some,  laid  down  as  principles, 
were  to  bring  forth,  when  fecundated  by  ratiocina- 
tion, a  close-linked  chain  of  endless  prescriptions 
embracing  every  moment  of  human  life.  To  be 
clear,  let  us  take  examples. 

A  Pentateuch  verse  says  :  "  Thou  shalt  not  seethe 
a  kid  in  its  mother's  milk."  An  old  tradition,  first 
expressed  in  the  Septuagint,  explains  this  verse  by 


THE   TALMUD  ?I 

the  prohibition  to  cook  meat  with  milk  food.  This 
prohibition,  universally  recognized,  the  Rabbis  take 
as  their  point  of  departure.  They  deduce  there- 
from a  group  of  special  laws,  which,  in  turn,  will 
prove  no  less  fruitful.  For  instance,  it  will  give 
rise  to  the  prohibition  of  eating  meat  with  milk 
food,  of  eating  milk  food  immediately  after  meat, 
of  using  the  same  vessel  for  meat  and  milk,  and 
many  others.  And  the  logical  deductions  will  go 
on  to  the  bitter  end,  nor  shrink  from  the  consider- 
ation of  the  minutest  details  connected  with  the 
kitchen. — In  the  Pentateuch  we  read  :  "  Thou  shalt 
not  eat  flesh  that  is  torn  of  beasts  in  the  field." 
From  this  prohibition  an  entire  code  will  be  devel- 
oped. In  fact,  what  matters  it  whether  it  was  torn 
in  the  city  or  in  the  field,  so  long  as  it  is  the  carrion 
of  an  animal  killed  by  a  wild  beast  or  dead  of  a  dis- 
ease ?  The  purpose  evidently  is  to  forbid  eating 
the  flesh  of  a  sick  or  unhealthy  animal.  But  when 
is  an  animal  sick  or  unhealthy  ?  Thence  so  and  so 
many  new  laws  to  determine  all  the  cases  falling 
under  the  interdiction.  Again,  the  prohibition  of 
working  on  the  Sabbath.  What  is  meant  by  the 
word  work  f  Some  more  new  laws  to  demonstrate 
what  is  forbidden  and  up  to  what  limits. — Nor  is 
this  all.  To  these  laws,  logically  and  unavoidably 
deduced  from  more  general,  long  recognized  laws, 
must  be  added  ordinances  of  recent  institution. 
One  Rabbi  maintains  somewhere  in  the  Talmud 
that  certain  ones  of  these  ordinances  were  later 
considered  traditional,  Sinaitic  laws.  Besides, 
there  are  measures  and  decrees  (Tekanoth,  Geze- 


72  THE    TALMUD 

roth)  passed  by  the  Synhedrin  at  the  dictate  and 
under  the  stress  of  circumstances,  which,  from  the 
moment  of  their  promulgation,  had  the  authority 
of  religious  laws.  Thus  is  woven  an  intricate  web 
of  prescriptions,  ceaselessly  reproducing  others  of 
their  kind,  which,  enthusiastically  accepted  by  a 
people  enamored  of  its  religious  system,  are  at  once 
consecrated  by  usage.  Such  is  the  work  to  which 
the  schools  devote  themselves,  especially  in  the 
century  preceding  and  in  that  following  the  de- 
struction of  the  second  Temple.  By  that  time  the 
multiplicity  of  laws  was  so  great  that  the  links 
connecting  a  particular  law  with  the  primitive  law, 
biblical  or  traditional,  from  which  it  was  derived, 
could  be  grasped  only  with  difficulty.  Recourse 
was  therefore  had  to  artificial  methods  for  the  pur- 
pose of  establishing  a  direct  connection  between 
the  Pentateuch  text  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
early  traditional  laws,  the  deduced  laws  of  whatso- 
ever derivation,  and  the  laws  of  recent  institution, 
on  the  other.  There  were  first  Hillel's  seven  rules 
of  interpretation,  from  which  R.  Ishmael  evolved 
thirteen.  Then  came  the  curious,  bold  method 
that  Akiba  has  the  distinction  of  having  applied 
and  developed  with  undaunted  consistency.  It  is 
based  on  the  principle  that  in  the  Scriptures  no- 
thing is  superfluous,  neither  phrase,  nor  word,  nor 
particle,  nor  letter ;  that  down  to  the  most  insig- 
nificant detail  everything  has  peculiar  value,  and 
that  besides  the  obvious  meaning  of  the  text  the 
intelligent  mind  ought  to  discover  a  thousand  hid- 
den meanings,  a  thousand  occult  hints.  Such  and 


THE    TALMUD  73 

such  a  word,  contrary  to  usage,  is  written  with  a 
^vaw ;  in  another  the  waw  is  lacking  apparently 
without  reason  ;  here  the  word  and  is  redundant, 
there  the  conjunction  is  suppressed — all  indica- 
tions of  half -revealed  things,  of  laws,  if  the  verse 
has  a  legal  bearing,  of  facts,  if  the  verse  is  of  an- 
other character.  The  book  of  Genesis,  for  example, 
opens  with  the  words :  "  In  the  beginning  God 
created  heaven  and  earth."  The  word  "heaven" 
in  Hebrew  is  preceded  by  the  particle  eth,  usually 
the  sign  of  the  accusative,  but  sometimes  also  mean- 
ing with.  That  particle  must  have  some  meaning, 
says  Akiba,  and  he  explains  the  verse  in  the  follow- 
ing manner  :  "  God  created  with  (the  celestial  hosts, 
that  is,  the  stars)  heaven  and  earth."  This  method, 
which  in  principle  was  recognized  by  the  Fathers 
of  the  Church,  St.  Basil,  St.  Jerome,  St.  Chrysos- 
tom,  was  applied  to  all  the  religious  prescriptions 
established  by  the  Rabbis.  Thenceforth  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  Rabbis  and  the  practices  sanctified  by 
time,  but  lacking  a  sure  foundation,  were  clothed 
with  a  sacred  character,  and  animated  with  new  life, 
by  contact  with  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The  impor- 
tance of  the  method  is  patent.  In  modern  society 
the  law  preserves  its  character  for  majesty  in  the 
eyes  of  the  people.  Yet  it  is  considered  a  human 
work,  subject  to  error,  capable  of  modification  or 
amelioration  according  to  changing  needs.  It  is 
respected,  because  it  has  been  freely  assented  to  by 
all,  and  the  people  honor  in  it  the  wish  and  work  of 
all.  In  a  society  pre-eminently  religious,  like  that 
of  the  Jews,  the  same  feeling  cannot  prevail.  A 


74  THE   TALMUD 

number  of  Rabbinic  prescriptions  could  doubtless 
have  been  shown  to  originate  in  ancient  and  ven- 
erable traditions,  but  many  were  of  recent  institu- 
tion. How  could  they  be  urged  upon  the  people 
and  made  to  influence  their  manners,  if  they  were 
not  clothed  with  a  sacred  character,  and  in  whatso- 
ever way  possible  justified  by  the  very  letter  of  the 
Scriptures  ?  This  method,  likewise,  by  providing 
the  shelter  of  the  Law,  opened  the  way  to  the  modi- 
fications and  the  useful  reforms  made  necessary  by 
circumstances.  Thus  Judaism  accommodated  itself 
to  the  constantly  shifting  needs  of  a  society  con- 
stantly in  a  state  of  upheaval,  and,  consecrating  the 
aspirations  of  each  new  generation,  it  could  develop 
and  progress  boldly  on  the  path  of  reforms.  This 
method  secured  the  religion  against  the  inert  wor- 
ship of  the  word  and  the  letter,  snatched  it  away 
from  stagnation,  and,  by  the  flux  and  movement  it 
produced,  vivified  and  fortified  faith.  Thus  it  sanc- 
tioned at  once  tradition,  which  thenceforth  was 
fixed,  and  future  innovations  that  might  crop  up. 
Did  the  people  understand  immediately  the  im- 
mense import  of  the  procedure  ?  We  do  not  know, 
but  certainly  they  conceived  profound  admiration 
for  the  man  able  to  educe  "bushels  of  decisions  from 
every  stroke  of  a  letter."  Arbitrary  as  the  method 
may  seem  to  us,  the  favor  it  met  with  may  be  ex- 
plained by  the  ardent  desire  of  the  people,  pointed 
out  above,  to  find  everything  in  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
They  are  looked  upon  by  the  people  as  the  source 
of  all  knowledge.  The  Rabbis  invent  nothing; 
they  merely  rediscover  in  the  Sacred  Writings 


THE   TALMUD  75 

the  laws  that  they  establish.  Far  from  setting 
out  on  the  search  for  the  unknown,  they  repeat 
tradition.  They  are  the  Tana'im,  "  the  repeaters," 
and  the  work  taught  by  them  in  the  schools  is  the 
Mishna,  that  is,  "the  repetition."  The  aspirations 
of  the  crowd,  then,  are  satisfied  by  this  method, 
which,  moreover,  appeals  to  its  admirers  by  its 
boldness  and  ingenuity  ;  hence  its  triumph. 

However,  the  work  of  the  teachers  was  not  ap- 
proved by  the  entire  nation.  One  class  of  society 
was  outspoken  in  its  opposition  to  the  doctrines 
and  the  instruction  of  the  Pharisees.  The  aris- 
tocracy, the  rich  priestly  families,  saw  with  dis- 
pleasure the  growth  of  an  inconvenient  legislative 
system,  which  compelled  them  to  a  life  of  austeri- 
ties and  sacrifices  far  from  charming  to  their  taste. 
The  party  of  the  Sadducees  can  be  traced  back  to 
the  establishment  of  the  sacerdotal  royalty  of  the 
Hasmoneans,  to  the  day  on  which  an  aristocracy 
began  to  form  about  the  reigning  family.  The  Sad- 
ducees admitted  all  the  religious  traditions  that 
time  had  consecrated  up  to  their  day.  But  they  were 
opposed  to  the  development  of  traditional  legisla- 
tion, and  as  Akiba's  method  was  its  most  powerful 
instrument,  they  combated  it  with  all  their  ability. 
Though  living  up  to  traditions  that  could  not  be 
explained  by  the  Pentateuch,  they  insisted  that 
they  abided  only  by  the  pure  and  simple  meaning 
of  the  text ;  they  followed,  or  at  least  pretended 
to  follow,  scrupulously  the  letter  of  the  Law,  and 
observed  its  explicit  injunctions,  refusing  to  modify 
them  by  the  ordinances  of  recent  institution.  They 


76  THE    TALMUD 

had  no  schools  whose  disciples  might  have  been 
recruited  from  among  the  people.  But  the  priests 
formed  a  college,  and  among  themselves  they  prop- 
agated their  traditions,  which,  however,  were  re- 
jected by  the  people.  During  the  great  upheaval 
that  terminated  in  the  catastrophe  of  the  year 
70,  the  Sadducees,  who  were  sincere  Jews,  and 
repudiated  only  the  exaggerations  of  the  Pharisaic 
system,  fused  with  the  people,  and  all  dissension 
was  forgotten  in  the  face  of  the  common  danger. 
But  after  the  destruction  of  the  Temple,  when  the 
Rabbis  established  their  schools  at  Jabne,  in  the 
north  of  Palestine,  the  priests,  whose  services  had 
become  superfluous,  exiled  themselves  to  the  Da- 
roma,  or  the  South,  and  there  established  rival 
schools,  in  which  they  taught  the  sacerdotal  tradi- 
tion. While  Akiba's  numerous  disciples  developed 
the  word  of  the  master,  R.  Ishmael  ben  Elisha, 
high  priest,  taught  in  the  Daroma.  Rigorously 
confining  to  its  narrowest  limits  the  system  of  in- 
terpretation adopted  by  Akiba,  he  explained  the 
Pentateuch  according  to  its  simplest  sense.  He 
thrust  out  of  the  Books  of  Moses  the  lessons  that 
the  school  of  the  north  made  dominant,  and  pre- 
served the  variants  that  ancient  priestly  tradition 
had  sanctified.  We  owe  to  him  commentaries  on 
all  the  Books  of  the  Pentateuch  except  Genesis. 
They  are  the  Mechilta  (measure),  commentary  on 
Exodus ;  Sifra  (book\  commentary  on  Leviticus, 
also  called  Torath  Cohanim,  or  Law  of  the  Priests, 
on  account  of  the  numerous  Levitical  prescriptions 
which  form  the  object  of  the  third  Book  of  Moses; 


THE   TALMUD  77 

finally,  Sifrt '  (books} ,  the  commentaries  on  Numbers 
and  Deuteronomy.  These  are  the  only  works  be- 
queathed by  the  school  of  Dar6ma.  The  school, 
in  fact,  soon  vanished  into  darkness,  being  each 
day  more  and  more  obscured  by  the  brilliant  light 
irradiating  from  its  northern  rival.  The  mentioned 
works,  moreover,  were  preserved  only  because  the 
Pharisaic  schools  adopted  them  after  having  modi- 
fied them  by  touches  changing  their  character. 
However,  the  alterations  were  not  so  radical  but 
that  under  the  Pharisaic  layer  traces  remained  of 
the  Sadducean,  or  at  least  sacerdotal,  method. 
Thanks  to  these  vestiges,  the  historic  science  of 
our  day  has  succeeded  in  rediscovering  the  spirit 
of  the  original  work  by  a  circumstantial  study  of 
the  language,  of  the  Halachoth,  and  the  Pentateuch 
injunctions  involved  in  them.  By  re-establishing 
the  text  three-fourths  effaced,  a  species  of  palimp- 
sest, it  not  only  restored  the  work  of  Ishmael  ben 
Elisha's  school,  but  demonstrated  the  permanence 
of  Sadducean  instruction. 

Akiba,  however,  had  not  yet  finished  his  work. 
To  have  connected  all  the  traditional  and  recently 
instituted  laws  with  the  Pentateuch  was  not  suffi- 
cient. It  was  necessary  to  co  ordinate  and  unite 
them  into  a  sort  of  code.  In  fact,  in  the  schools 
the  commentaries  and  the  instruction  of  the  Rab- 
bis had  at  first  followed  the  text  of  the  Law,  and 
the  order  of  its  chapters  and  verses  determined 
the  order  of  the  Halachoth.  But  when  the  Halach- 
oth, by  the  successive  labors  of  the  schools,  had 
multiplied  extensively,  it  became  impossible  to 


78  THE   TALMUD 

teach  them  in  that  order.  Each  verse  was  accom- 
panied by  a  commentary  of  infinite  length  ;  the 
text  disappeared,  buried  under  the  notes.  A  clas- 
sification thus  became  necessary,  and  this  again 
was  Akiba's  work.  His  master  mind  succeeded  in 
putting  order  into  the  vast  chaos  of  decisions.  But 
he  could  do  no  more  than  trace  the  outlines.  The 
Roman  hangman  prevented  him  from  finishing  the 
work,  which  his  school  continued,  and  a  disciple  of 
his  followers,  R.  Judah  the  Holy,  of  the  illustrious 
family  of  Hillel,  had  the  glory  of  making  the  final 
compilation  of  the  Mishna  and  attaching  his  name 
thereto. 

It  was  an  important  achievement,  this  codifica- 
tion of  the  oral  law,  and  one  big  with  results. 
Once  taught  from  the  written  word  in  the  Mishna, 
Tradition  received  its  final  consecration.  It  ceased 
to  be  tradition  to  become  a  new  Law — a  Law  com- 
pleter,  preciser,  and  clearer  than  the  ancient  Law, 
which  found  itself  relegated  to  the  background. 
"  It  is  better  to  be  occupied  with  the  Mishna  than 
with  the  Law,"  said  the  Rabbis;  "the  Law  may 
be  compared  to  water,  but  the  Mishna  is  wine." 
Why,  in  fact,  should  one  lose  time  in  puzzling  over 
the  original  text,  when  complete  explanation  is 
within  reach  of  all,  when  the  Mishna  contains 
both  text  and  commentary?  So  tradition,  from 
being  a  commentary  on  the  Law,  itself  becomes  a 
second  law,  a  Deuterosis,  to  use  the  expression  of 
the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  and  takes  the  place  of 
the  first.  Thereafter,  the  work  of  the  schools, 
thought  to  be  at  an  end,  will  be  resumed.  The 


THE  TALMUD  79 

long  labor  expended  on  the  Pentateuch  and  ter- 
minating in  the  Mishna  will  be  applied  to  the 
Mishna  to  produce  finally  the  Gemara.  The  text 
of  the  Mishna  will  be  taken  up  again  and  dis- 
cussed. Every  Rabbinic  opinion,  whether  anony- 
mous, that  is,  admitted  by  all,  or  cited  with  its 
author's  name,  that  is,  with  every  possible  reserva- 
tion, will  be  argued,  debated,  developed,  explained. 
Obscure  points  will  be  illuminated,  and  so  again 
new  decisions  will  be  arrived  at.  And  after  three 
centuries  of  discussion,  the  Gemara  will  be  finished, 
and  the  Talmud  closed.  Thus  a  new  era  begins 
with  the  "compilation  of  the  Mishna.  But  a  new 
era  must  have  a  new  name.  The  doctors  of  the 
Mishna  had  been  Tanaim,  repeaters ;  the  teachers 
of  the  epoch  upon  which  we  are  about  to  enter 
are  called  Amoraim,  discoursers — two  well  chosen 
names,  in  each  case  characterizing  exactly  the 
nature  of  the  instruction.  For  if,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  Tanai'm  only  taught  tradition,  only  re- 
produced and  repeated  decisions  received  from 
ancient  times  to  transmit  them  to  disciples,  then, 
on  the  other  hand,  this  tradition  once  fixed,  there 
remained  nothing  more  than  to  discuss  the  Law 
and  to  discourse. 

This  work  of  the  teachers  of  the  Gemara  does 
not  withdraw  itself  wholly  from  foreign  influences. 
While  they  are  building  up  the  code  on  the  solid 
basis  of  the  Mishna,  a  neighboring  nation,  whose 
formidable  power  they  know  only  too  well,  is  en- 
gaged about  a  similar  task,  and  with  incomparable 
force  and  marvellous  genius  raises  the  monumental 


80  THE  TALMUD 


Corpus  Juris  civilis,  on  which  will  be  propped 
the  legal  systems  of  Europe.  How  was  it  possi- 
ble for  the  Rabbis  to  escape  the  influence  that 
Roman  legislation,  whose  rigor  and  formalism  they 
should  have  been  the  first  to  admire,  could  exer- 
cise upon  them  ?  In  point  of  fact,  the  civil  law  of 
the  Talmud  is  impregnated  in  almost  all  its  parts 
with  the  spirit  of  the  Roman  system.  Even  formu- 
las and  expressions  borrowed  from  Rome  can  be 
found  in  it.  Certain  departments  of  legislation, 
such  as  the  laws  on  slavery  and  prescription,  for 
which  the  Pentateuch  furnishes  not  a  hint,  or 
sketches  barely  the  shadow  of  a  theory,  are  almost 
entirely  inspired  by  Roman  legislation,  But  all 
they  borrow  takes  on  modifications  under  the  ma- 
nipulation of  the  Rabbis.  The  Jewish  mind  trans- 
formed the  alien  elements  by  impressing  upon 
them  its  peculiar  character.  And  from  this  vast 
crucible,  in  which  three  centuries  had  melted  down 
the  materials  of  diverse  origin  gathered  by  the 
schools,  was  to  emerge  the  essentially  uniform  and 
homogeneous  work  of  Talmudic  legislation. 

Ill 

INFLUENCE   OF    EVENTS    ON    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF 
THE    HALACHA 

IN  the  preceding  pages,  we  studied  only  the  in- 
ternal development  of  the  Halacha.  It  is  now  time 
to  consider  whether  external  circumstances  exer- 
cised influence  upon  this  development ;  whether 
and  up  to  what  point  they  trammelled  or  favored  it. 


THE    TALMUD  8l 

Although  its  first  traces  are  found  only  in  the 
Maccabean  epoch,  it  is  well  known  that  the  work  of 
the  Jewish  schools  resulting  in  the  Talmud  began 
on  the  return  from  the  Captivity.  From  that  pe- 
riod until  the  time  of  the  final  redaction  of  the 
Talmud,  four  great  events  mark  the  history  of 
Judea:  the  persecutions  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
followed  by  the  re-establishment  of  the  kingdom 
by  the  Hasmoneans ;  the  birth  of  Christianity ; 
the  destruction  of  the  Temple,  and  the  last  revolt 
of  the  Jews  under  Hadrian.  We  shall  examine 
the  influence  upon  the  formation  of  the  Halacha 
attributable  to  each  of  these  events. 

In  the  long  and  tranquil  years  of  the  Persian 
domination,  Judaism,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Men  of  the  Great  Synagogue,  could  grow  un- 
shackled, and  instruction,  little  by  little  penetrat- 
ing the  mass  of  the  people,  formed  the  national 
mind.  The  persecutions  of  Antiochus,  therefore, 
were  nothing  more  than  a  passing  storm,  which,  we 
may  well  believe,  effected  a  revival  and  strengthen- 
ing of  religious  feeling.  We  say,  we  may  well  be- 
lieve, for  we  possess  no  documents  to  acquaint  us 
with  the  precise  nature  of  their  influence.  The 
triumph  of  the  Maccabees  again  insured  a  certain 
tranquillity  for  the  Jews,  thanks  to  which  the  Rab- 
bis, as  under  the  Persian  domination,  could  calmly 
prosecute  their  long  continuing  work.  But  Rome 
enters  upon  the  scene.  Pompey  takes  possession 
of  Jerusalem,  and  desecrates  the  Sanctuary.  Soon 
Judea  falls  under  the  iron  yoke  of  the  procurators, 
whose  odious  tyranny  leads  to  the  terrible  insur- 
6 


82  THE   TALMUD 

rection  of  the  year  65.  The  history  of  the  heroic, 
superhuman  struggle  ending  with  the  burning  of 
the  Temple  and  the  annihilation  of  the  Jewish 
state,  is  well  known.  It  would  seem  that  a  revo- 
lution like  this  ought  to  react  powerfully  upon 
religious  conditions.  The  results,  however,  do  not 
correspond  to  the  greatness  of  the  catastrophe ; 
for  the  influence  was  material  rather  than  moral. 
With  the  destruction  of  the  Temple  disappeared  a 
part  of  the  cult  and  a  whole  set  of  ceremonies.  All 
connected  with  the  sacrifices  was  abrogated  by  the 
force  of  circumstances.  But  the  rest  of  the  cult  re- 
mained intact,  no  cause,  moreover,  presenting  itself 
to  modify  its  spirit.  The  fact  is  that,  though  the 
Jewish  nationality  was  crushed,  the  religion  was 
not  persecuted.  The  political  mold  shattered,  the 
religious  mold  remained  perfect,  and  preserved  the 
hope  of  the  re-establishment  of  national  independ- 
ence. This  is  what  Vespasian  did  not  under- 
stand, and  in  permitting  R.  Jochanan  ben  Zakka'i 
to  transport  his  school  to  Jabne,  he  did  not  realize 
that  he  was  allowing  a  fire  to  be  kindled  on  a  new 
hearth  of  insurrection.  Sixty  years  after  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem,  in  fact,  the  grandsons  of  those  who  saw 
the  ruin  of  the  "  Holy  House,"  rise  at  the  call  of 
Akiba,  rush  to  arms,  chase  the  Romans  out  of  Pal- 
estine, reconquer  their  land,  summon  all  their 
brethren  of  the  Empire,  and  for  an  instant  re-erect 
the  kingdom  of  their  ancestors.  It  is  a  grave  mo- 
ment, for  this  struggle  is  to  decide,  not  only  upon 
Israel's  fate,  but  also  upon  that  of  the  new  sect 
that  Israel  has  permitted  to  go  forth  from  his 


THE   TALMUD  83 

midst.  The  Christianity  of  about  the  year  70  had 
not  acquired  sufficient  power  to  feel  the  conse- 
quences of  the  catastrophe.  A  little  sect  without 
influence,  it  found  protection  in  its  own  feebleness. 
But  from  that  time  until  Hadrian,  it  grew  and  ex- 
tended itself,  and  the  germs  of  dissidence  present 
from  its  birth  in  the  antagonism  of  Peter  and  Paul 
developed.  The  Church  was  divided  into  two 
chief  sects  :  the  Judeo-Christians,  disciples  of 
Peter,  and  the  adepts  of  Paul.  The  Judeo-Chris- 
tians still  count  themselves  as  Jews,  and  accept 
all  the  religious  teachings  of  the  Rabbis,  adding 
only  the  article  of  faith  that  the  Messiah  had  come 
in  the  person  of  Jesus.  Paul  and  his  disciples  re- 
ject all  the  ceremonies,  all  the  traditional  laws, 
more  than  that,  even  the  Law  of  Moses,  and  pro- 
fess a  new  doctrine,  whence  Catholicism  was  later 
to  issue.  This  is  the  situation  when  Bar  Coziba} 
the  Son  of  the  Star,  the  new  Messiah  whom  Akiba 
salutes,  stirs  up  the  Jews  in  revolt  against  Tinnius 
Rufus.  The  Judeo-Christians,  mindful  of  the  Mas- 
ter's word,  "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world," 
refuse  to  fight  at  the  side  of  the  Jews.  Coziba,  by 
threats  of  punishment,  forces  them  to  take  up 
arms.  But  when  Severus  triumphs,  and  Bethar 
falls  into  the  power  of  the  Romans,  the  most  terri- 
ble vengeance  strikes  all  who  bear  the  name  Jew. 
Hadrian  does  not  fall  into  Vespasian's  error :  he 
perceives  that  the  Jews  are  to  be  feared  so  long  as 
anything  recalls  the  memory  of  their  nationality, 
and  religious  ceremonials  are  proscribed  on  pain 
of  death.  "  Why  art  thou  condemned  to  death  ? " 


82  THE   TALMUD 

rection  of  the  year  65.  The  history  of  the  heroic, 
superhuman  struggle  ending  with  the  burning  of 
the  Temple  and  the  annihilation  of  the  Jewish 
state,  is  well  known.  It  would  seem  that  a  revo- 
lution like  this  ought  to  react  powerfully  upon 
religious  conditions.  The  results,  however,  do  not 
correspond  to  the  greatness  of  the  catastrophe ; 
for  the  influence  was  material  rather  than  moral. 
With  the  destruction  of  the  Temple  disappeared  a 
part  of  the  cult  and  a  whole  set  of  ceremonies.  All 
connected  with  the  sacrifices  was  abrogated  by  the 
force  of  circumstances.  But  the  rest  of  the  cult  re- 
mained intact,  no  cause,  moreover,  presenting  itself 
to  modify  its  spirit.  The  fact  is  that,  though  the 
Jewish  nationality  was  crushed,  the  religion  was 
not  persecuted.  The  political  mold  shattered,  the 
religious  mold  remained  perfect,  and  preserved  the 
hope  of  the  re-establishment  of  national  independ- 
ence. This  is  what  Vespasian  did  not  under- 
stand, and  in  permitting  R.  Jochanan  ben  Zakkai' 
to  transport  his  school  to  Jabne,  he  did  not  realize 
that  he  was  allowing  a  fire  to  be  kindled  on  a  new 
hearth  of  insurrection.  Sixty  years  after  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem,  in  fact,  the  grandsons  of  those  who  saw 
the  ruin  of  the  "  Holy  House,"  rise  at  the  call  of 
Akiba,  rush  to  arms,  chase  the  Romans  out  of  Pal- 
estine, reconquer  their  land,  summon  all  their 
brethren  of  the  Empire,  and  for  an  instant  re-erect 
the  kingdom  of  their  ancestors.  It  is  a  grave  mo- 
ment, for  this  struggle  is  to  decide,  not  only  upon 
Israel's  fate,  but  also  upon  that  of  the  new  sect 
that  Israel  has  permitted  to  go  forth  from  his 


THE    TALMUD  83 

midst.  The  Christianity  of  about  the  year  70  had 
not  acquired  sufficient  power  to  feel  the  conse- 
quences of  the  catastrophe.  A  little  sect  without 
influence,  it  found  protection  in  its  own  feebleness. 
But  from  that  time  until  Hadrian,  it  grew  and  ex- 
tended itself,  and  the  germs  of  dissidence  present 
from  its  birth  in  the  antagonism  of  Peter  and  Paul 
developed.  The  Church  was  divided  into  two 
chief  sects  :  the  Judeo-Christians,  disciples  of 
Peter,  and  the  adepts  of  Paul.  The  Judeo-Chris- 
tians still  count  themselves  as  Jews,  and  accept 
all  the  religious  teachings  of  the  Rabbis,  adding 
only  the  article  of  faith  that  the  Messiah  had  come 
in  the  person  of  Jesus.  Paul  and  his  disciples  re- 
ject all  the  ceremonies,  all  the  traditional  laws, 
more  than  that,  even  the  Law  of  Moses,  and  pro- 
fess a  new  doctrine,  whence  Catholicism  was  later 
to  issue.  This  is  the  situation  when  Bar  Coziba? 
the  Son  of  the  Star,  the  new  Messiah  whom  Akiba 
salutes,  stirs  up  the  Jews  in  revolt  against  Tinnius 
Rufus.  The  Judeo-Christians,  mindful  of  the  Mas- 
ter's word,  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world," 
refuse  to  fight  at  the  side  of  the  Jews.  Coziba,  by 
threats  of  punishment,  forces  them  to  take  up 
arms.  But  when  Severus  triumphs,  and  Bethar 
falls  into  the  power  of  the  Romans,  the  most  terri- 
ble vengeance  strikes  all  who  bear  the  name  Jew. 
Hadrian  does  not  fall  into  Vespasian's  error :  he 
perceives  that  the  Jews  are  to  be  feared  so  long  as 
anything  recalls  the  memory  of  their  nationality, 
and  religious  ceremonials  are  proscribed  on  pain 
of  death.  "  Why  art  thou  condemned  to  death  ? " 


84  THE   TALMUD 

says  a  Talmudic  text.  "  Because  I  observed  the 
law  of  circumcision. — Why  art  thou  led  away  to 
punishment  ? — Because  I  was  faithful  to  the  Sab- 
bath.— Why  art  thou  scourged  ? — Because  I  obeyed 
the  injunction  of  the  Lulab"  In  the  face  of  these 
consequences,  the  Judeo-Christians  break  the  last 
bond  uniting  them  with  the  Jews,  and  throw  them- 
selves into  the  arms  of  the  Paulinians.  The 
Church,  which  preaches  the  abolition  of  ceremo- 
nies, sees  her  triumph  assured. 

But  if  the  result  of  this  war  is  to  precipitate  the 
Church  along  the  road  upon  which  she  has  just 
entered  so  resolutely,  it  ought  to  have  the  opposite 
influence  on  Judaism,  plunging  it  deeper  into 
Pharisaism.  And  that  for  two  reasons.  The  first, 
producing  an  effect  only  during  a  limited  period,  is 
the  religious  persecution  which  Hadrian  himself 
enforces  against  the  Jews.  For,  the  more  the  cer- 
emonies are  persecuted,  and  the  more  the  people 
feels  its  lot  bound  up  with  them,  the  greater  grows 
their  importance  in  the  eyes  of  the  believer,  the 
more  do  they  tend  to  become  absolute.  Then, 
when  the  persecutions  abated,  and  the  people 
began  to  breathe  more  freely,  it  was  necessary  to 
institute  a  separation  from  the  Church,  which 
gained  territory  day  after  day.  The  differences 
dividing  the  two  religions  had  to  be  marked  more 
clearly.  And  the  more  unreservedly  growing 
Christianity  opened  its  ample  bosom  to  the  pagan 
nations,  the  more  Judaism  inclined  to  retreat,  jeal- 
ously withdrawing  into  itself  and  multiplying  its 
practices  and  observances  from  day  to  day,  from 


THE    TALMUD  8$ 

hour  to  hour.  The  abyss  parting  it  from  the  Chris- 
tians and  the  pagans  deepened.  It  remained  iso- 
lated in  the  midst  of  hostile  nations,  and  this  isola- 
tion constituted  its  strength.  Thus  became  possi- 
ble the  strange  phenomenon,  unique  in  history,  I 
believe,  of  a  people  dispersed  to  the  four  corners  of 
the  earth,  yet  one,  of  a  nation  without  a  land,  yet 
living.  The  miracle  was  accomplished  by  a  book, 
the  Talmud.  The  Talmud  was  the  ensign  which 
served  as  a  rallying  point  for  the  dispersed  of  Israel. 
The  thousand  austere  and  minute  practices  that 
it  enjoins  were  so  many  strong  bonds  attaching 
one  to  the  other.  Thus,  by  a  curious  series  of 
actions  and  reactions,  the  religious  movement 
that  gave  birth  to  the  Mishna  brought  about  the 
national  uprising  under  Hadrian.  Through  its 
influence  on  Christianity,  this  rebellion  reacted 
indirectly  on  the  religious  movement  that  produced 
the  Talmud.  And  the  Talmud,  in  turn,  maintained 
the  unity  of  the  people,  conquered  and  crushed, 
yet  none  the  less  living  and  resisting. 

IV 

SPIRIT  OF  THE  HALACHIC  DEVELOPMENT 

LET  us  now  cast  a  glance  backwards,  and  take  a 
bird's-eye  view  of  this  effective  development  of 
Pharisaic  formalism.  We  are  at  once  struck  by 
its  system  of  observances  having  relation  to  every 
moment  of  life.  The  believer  finds  himself  en- 
meshed in  a  net-work  of  prescriptions,  which  close 


86  THE   TALMUD 

in  upon  him  on  all  sides,  and  reduce  him  to  never- 
ending  slavery — slavery  accepted  freely  and  with 
joy,  for  this  sacred,  a  thousand  times  blessed  yoke 
is  the  condition  of  happiness.  Chained  down  by 
the  many  links  that  his  religion  has  forged  into  a 
system  around  him,  he  has  only  to  follow  without 
fatigue  or  effort  the  divine  commandments.  He 
has  no  need  for  long  reflection  upon  his  duties  and 
for  much  reasoning  on  the  rules  of  conduct,  ab- 
solved as  he  is  by  religion,  which  has  done  all  this 
work  for  him.  Each  day,  each  hour,  is  unalterably 
arranged  by  regulations  from  on  high.  In  the 
morning,  prayers  and  thanksgivings ;  at  noon, 
prayers  and  thanksgivings ;  in  the  evening,  pray- 
ers and  thanksgivings ;  benedictions  before  the 
meal ;  after  the  meal,  benedictions.  At  sight  of  the 
imposing  phenomena  of  nature,  of  a  storm,  the  sea, 
the  first  spring  blossoms,  thanksgivings.  Thanks- 
givings for  a  new  enjoyment,  for  unexpected  good 
fortune,  on  eating  new  fruits,  at  the  announcement 
of  a  happy  event.  Prayers  of  resignation  at  the 
news  of  a  misfortune.  At  the  tomb  of  a  beloved 
being,  set  prayers ;  words  all  prepared  to  console 
the  sorrowstricken,  who  have  just  been  overtaken 
by  affliction.  Every  emotion  and  every  feeling, 
the  most  fugitive  as  well  as  the  most  profound,  are 
foreseen,  noted,  and  embodied  in  a  formula  of 
prayer  or  of  benediction.  In  the  most  solemn  mo- 
ments of  life  as  in  the  most  vulgar,  when  the  soul 
forgets  itself  and  allows  itself  to  drop  into  the 
prose  of  daily  routine,  or  when,  crushed  under  the 
load  of  lively  emotions,  it  gives  way,  yielding  to  its 


THE    TALMUD  8? 

powerlessness,  the  believer  finds  himself  in  the 
presence  of  a  commandment,  of  a  Mitzwa  to  be 
accomplished,  recalling  him  to  heavenly  things, 
sanctifying  the  present  hour,  and  keeping  him  in 
perpetual  communication  with  the  divine.  If  he 
wishes  to  breathe  forth  his  feelings  and  give  them 
definite  shape,  he  finds  ready-made  formulas  at 
hand,  which  he  has  but  to  repeat  with  fervor  in 
order  to  pour  out  his  soul  before  God.  The  Israel- 
ite, then,  has  no  need  of  painful  efforts  in  seeking 
the  road  to  salvation.  It  is  wide  open  to  him, 
thanks  to  his  religion,  that  tender,  provident 
mother  who  convoys  him  to  happiness,  provided  he 
obeys  the  divine  prescriptions,  and  with  docility 
goes  whither  God  leads  him.  Such  is  the  system 
the  rearing  of  which  the  Talmud  has  pursued  with 
the  force  of  bold  logic.  Curiously  enough,  no- 
where can  the  precisely  formulated  expression  of 
this  system  be  found.  Moreover,  it  is  well  known 
that  the  Synagogue  has  never  summoned  a  Coun- 
cil to  decree  a  dogma  and  impose  it  upon  the  faith 
of  the  nation.  But  whether  a  precise  formula 
embodying  their  system  was  present  in  the  minds 
of  the  Rabbis,  or  whether  they  unconsciously  fol- 
lowed it  out,  it  may  none  the  less  be  abstracted  in 
all  its  clearness  from  the  very  spirit  of  Halachic 
development :  namely,  impotence  of  human  reason 
to  direct  itself  in  the  search  for  truth,  and  the  duty 
imposed  upon  religion  to  teach  it  truth. 

In  fact,  is  not  this  the  system  of  all  religions  ?  Do 
they  not  one  and  all  recognize  the  powerlessness 
of  human  reason  to  arrive  at  truth  without  assist- 


88  THE   TALMUD 

ance  from  above?  Are  they  not  all  sent  down 
from  heaven  to  lead  man  to  salvation  ?  Judaism, 
then,  has  followed  out  a  natural  evolution,  and  per- 
haps this  is  the  point  of  view  to  be  assumed  in 
explaining  its  derivation  from  Hebraism.  Every 
religion  is  at  first  based  upon  ideal  principles, 
principles  of  justice  and  charity,  which  for  some 
time,  in  a  vague  and  indeterminate  form,  satisfy 
certain  ardent,  religious  spirits.  But  it  cannot 
long  persist  in  this  indeterminate  form  ;  it  clothes 
itself  with  a  body,  becomes  a  dogma,  and  is  trans- 
formed from  moral  instruction,  which  it  first  was, 
into  a  positive  religion.  Then,  if  it  is  logical,  it 
condemns  itself  to  pursue  the  course  boldly  taken 
by  Pharisaism.  That  is  what  we  are  taught  by 
the  theoretic  conception  of  the  religious  idea,  and 
that  is  what  is  proved  by  history.  History  tells 
us  that  every  religion  rests  upon  formalism.  It 
tells  us  that  Mahometanism,  like  Judaism,  has  ar- 
rived at  a  cult  burdened  with  ceremonies.  It 
shows  us  in  Italic  polytheism  an  infinite  multiplic- 
ity of  divinities  directing  the  conduct  of  men.  It 
shows  us  the  Roman  peasant  trembling  before  the 
four  thousand  gods  that  presided  over  every  act 
and  moment  of  life  and  Lucretius  delivering  men 
from  the  chains  of  religion.  It  tells  us  that  the 
Brahmins  arrive  at  scholasticism  comparable  with 
the  Talmud ;  that  the  doctrine  of  St.  Paul  itself, 
the  doctrine  founded  on  the  rejection  of  every  exter- 
nal observance,  later  gives  birth  to  the  Summa  The- 
ologies of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  and  to  the  system  of 
ceremonies  from  which  Protestantism  was  a  reac- 


THE    TALMUD  89 

tion.  It  tells  us,  finally,  that,  if  Protestantism  alone 
has  hitherto  escaped  this  law,  it  is  because  it  is 
a  compromise  between  religion  and  philosophy, 
and  that  logic  condemns  it  to  end  up  either  in  form- 
alism or  in  deism.  Judaism,  then,  could  not  but 
pursue  this  course,  and  urged  by  the  logic  of 
things,  which  was  favored  by  an  array  of  circum- 
stances destructive  of  the  political  existence  of  the 
nation,  beneficent  for  its  religious  work,  it  pursued 
it  to  the  end.  Accordingly,  the  Talmud  is  the 
completest  expression  of  a  religious  movement, 
and  this  code  of  endless  prescriptions  and  minute 
ceremonials  represents  in  its  perfection  the  total 
work  of  the  religious  idea.  In  our  eyes,  this  is  its 
greatest  title  to  the  respect  and  the  consideration 
of  thinkers ;  this  is  its  greatest  merit.  Certainly, 
Judaism  may  be  regarded  as  austere  and  arid.  It 
has  not  the  splendor  and  brilliant  exuberance  of 
Greek  or  Hindoo  polytheism.  We  are  far  removed 
from  the  superabundant,  vigorous  poetry  pervad- 
ing the  dazzling  efflorescence  of  Aryan  mytholo- 
gies. Herein  lies  the  great  advantage  of  polythe- 
ism and  pantheism  over  monotheism.  But  we  are 
now  not  considering  religions  from  the  point  of 
view  of  art ;  we  are  investigating  only  their  dog- 
matic development,  in  so  far  as  it  can  be  abstracted 
and  extricated  from  the  rest  of  human  faculties. 
Taken  in  this  way,  that  of  Judaism  has  been  most 
logical,  since  without  hesitation  it  has  proceeded 
to  extreme  consequences.  If  these  consequences 
incur  condemnation,  then  the  system  as  a  whole 
must  be  condemned,  for  the  starting  point  is 


9O  THE    TALMUD 

wrong.  If  the  starting  point  is  accepted,  it  is  nec- 
essary to  go  to  the  bitter  end,  and  endorse  all  the 
consequences.  At  all  events,  the  Talmud  has  done 
so,  and  thanks  to  it  we  have  in  Judaism  the  com- 
pletest,  and  consequently  the  most  perfect,  expres- 
sion of  the  religous  idea. 


V 

THE    TALMUD    IN    THE     MIDDLE    AGES    AND     MODERN 
TIMES 

CONCLUSION 

WE  have  arrived  at  the  end  of  our  task.  En- 
deavoring to  apply  the  critical  method  to  the 
investigation  of  the  Talmud,  we  have  demanded 
from  an  analytic  study  information  on  the  elements 
composing  it,  and  from  an  historic  study  the 
supreme  law  or  idea  governing  its  formation.  Be- 
fore we  close  this  article,  it  may  be  proper  to  cast 
a  glance  at  the  fortunes  of  the  book  in  the  middle 
ages  and  in  modern  times  and  to  indicate  cursorily 
what  science  may  still  demand  of  it  for  the  general 
history  of  humanity. 

When,  a  century  after  the  compilation  of  the 
Palestinian  Gemara,  the  Babylonian  Talmud,  in  its 
turn,  received  its  final  shape,  it  was  universally 
adopted  in  the  Jewish  schools,  and  the  chiefs  of 
the  Academies,  the  Saboratm  (opinion  givers,  from 
the  sixth  to  the  eighth  century),  declaring  the  text 
fixed,  decided  that  no  more  modifications  could  be 


THE   TALMUD  91 

introduced  into  it.  Despite  the  persecutions  of 
Jezdegerd  II,  Firuz,  and  Kobad,  who  closed  the 
schools  in  Persia  for  a  period  of  sixty-three  years, 
and  interrupted  the  teaching  of  the  tradition,  the 
Talmud  became  a  classic  to  be  studied  and  com- 
mented. The  Saboraim  occupied  themselves  more 
especially  with  grammar,  fixing  the  system  of 
vowel  points  for  the  Bible,  while  the  Geonim  (excel- 
lencies, from  the  eighth  to  the  ninth  century), 
along  with  lexicographic  work,  devoted  themselves 
especially  to  the  study  of  the  Talmud.  Under 
their  influence,  this  book  formed  the  basis  of  in- 
struction, and  became  for  the  schools  what  the 
Mishna  had  been  for  the  AmoraTm.  To  that  epoch 
belongs  the  redaction  of  the  Great  Decisions  (Ha- 
lacJioth  GedolotJi),  a  work  in  which  the  principal 
decisions  of  the  Talmud  are  classified  in  the  order 
of  the  613  commandments  of  the  Pentateuch  to 
which  they  had  been  attached,  With  the  con- 
quests of  the  Arabs,  Jewish  studies  spread  over 
Africa  and  Spain.  A  little  later  the  movement 
takes  possession  of  the  Provence  and  of  Italy, 
then  of  the  regions  to  the  north  of  the  Loire  as 
far  as  the  German  provinces  on  the  Rhine.  On 
all  sides  schools  are  opened,  and  remarkable  works 
of  various  kinds  published.  R.  Hananel  under- 
takes an  abridgment  of  the  Halachic  parts  of  the 
Talmud,  which  inspires,  and  in  turn  is  displaced 
by,  the  similar  work  of  R.  Isaac  of  Fez  (1013- 
1103).  At  the  same  time  appears  the  complete 
Commentary  by  R.  Solomon  Isaaci,  called  Rashi, 
of  Troyes  in  the  Champagne,  a  masterpiece  of 


92  THE    TALMUD 

brevity,  precision,  and  clearness.  In  the  following 
century,  Maimonides,  "the  eagle  of  the  Syna- 
gogue," publishes  his  Arabic  commentary  on  the 
Mishna  and  the  masterly  work  called  Mis/me  To- 
raky  "the  second  law,"  in  which,  embracing  the 
whole  domain  of  the  Halacha,  he  seeks  to  system- 
atize the  vast  mass  of  decisions.  In  France,  Rashi 
created  a  school.  With  him  directly  is  connected 
the  galaxy  of  French  Rabbis  in  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries,  to  whom  the  world  owes  the 
Talmudic  glosses  called  Tosaphoth,  or  Additions. 
It  is  this  work  of  the  Tosaphists  together  with 
Rashi's  commentary,  become  a  classic,  that  frames 
the  text  of  the  Mishna  and  the  Gemara  in  all  the 
editions.  From  France  the  movement  spreads  to 
north-western  Germany,  which  in  the  thirteenth 
and  the  fourteenth  century  furnishes  its  contingent 
of  commentaries  and  supercommentaries.  These 
diverse  works  bear  the  same  character.  In  all,  the 
various  decisions  reached  by  the  Gemara  in  the 
different  cases  discussed  are  compared ;  one  is 
sought  to  be  explained  by  the  other,  the  import  and 
extent  of  each  are  determined,  and  in  all,  the  order 
or  rather  the  disorder  of  the  Gemara,  somewhat 
palliated,  is  followed.  With  the  exception  of  Mai- 
monides, no  one  thought  of  introducing  the  light 
of  method  into  this  vast  chaos  and  of  classifying 
all  the  Halachoth  logically.  The  German,  Jacob 
ben  Asher,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  taking  the 
Mishne  Torah  as  his  model,  undertakes  a  methodic 
piece  of  work.  For  a  century  the  attempt  remains 
without  imitation ;  the  fifteenth  century  produces 


THE   TALMUD  93 

nothing  for  the  Halacha.  But  in  the  sixteenth 
century  appears  the  Polish  school,  whose  works, 
though  not  characterized  by  the  breadth  of  concep- 
tion that  distinguishes  Maimonides'  Mis/me  To- 
rahy  are  remarkable  for  penetration  and  depth, 
perhaps  lacking  in  that  book.  This  school  has  for 
its  aim  the  completion  of  R.  Jacob  ben  Asher's 
work,  and  in  1567  Joseph  Karo  publishes  his  Shul- 
han  Arukh  (the  prepared  table},  in  which  all  the 
religious  and  civil  laws  of  the  Jews,  article  by  arti- 
cle, are  classified  according  to  subjects.  The  codi- 
fication of  the  Halacha  is  thereby  completed,  but 
not  the  work  of  the  commentators,  which  con- 
tinues upon  the  text  of  the  Code  during  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  and  in  our  day  is  not  at  an  end  in 
Bohemia,  in  Hungary,  and  in  all  the  sections  of 
the  world  where  the  Jews  have  most  faithfully  pre- 
served the  customs  and  usages  of  past  times. 

While  Judaism  in  the  whole  of  Europe  is  em- 
ploying all  its  intelligence  and  all  its  activity  in 
the  completion  of  its  great  Talmud  work,  what  is 
the  fortune  of  the  book  among  Christians  ?  The 
Jews  were  persecuted ;  the  work  that  was  the 
soul  of  the  unfortunate  nation  was  not  to  be 
spared.  "  It  has  been  proscribed,  and  imprisoned, 
and  burnt,  a  hundred  times  over,"  says  the  author 
of  the  Quarterly  Review  article.  "  From  Justinian, 
who,  as  early  as  553  A.D.,  honored  it  by  a  special 
interdictory  Novella  (Novella  146),  down  to  Clem- 
ent VIII  and  later — a  space  of  over  a  thousand 
years — both  the  secular  and  the  spiritual  powers, 


94  THE    TALMUD 

kings  and  emperors,  popes  and  anti-popes,  vied 
with  each  other  in  hurling  anathemas  and  bulls 
and  edicts  of  wholesale  confiscation  and  conflagra- 
tion against  this  luckless  book."  In  1239,  Gregory 
IX  has  it  burnt  in  France  and  in  Italy;  in  1264, 
Clement  IV  renews  the  prohibition,  and  condemns 
to  the  stake  those  who  harbor  manuscripts  of  it. 
Two  centuries  later  the  interdict  is  not  yet  re- 
moved, and  it  took  from  1484  to  1519,  that  is, 
thirty-six  years,  to  print  twenty-three  treatises — 
the  publication  was  secret.  In  1520,  Leo  X  abro- 
gates the  decree.  But  in  1553,  at  the  instigation 
of  the  apostate  Jew,  Solomon  Romano,  Julius  III 
again  imposes  the  interdict,  and  has  the  Talmud 
burnt  at  Rome  and  at  Venice.  Paul  IV,  incited  by 
Vittorio  Eliano,  the  worthy  brother  of  Romano, 
imitates  Julius  III  in  1559.  Four  years  later,  the 
Council  of  Trent  permits  the  publication  of  the 
Talmud,  but  under  so  close  a  surveillance  by  the 
censor  that  at  first  the  Jews  refuse  to  profit  by 
the  authorization.  Not  until  1578  does  the  Basle 
edition  appear,  "so  expurgated  that  it  might  be 
read  with  profit  even  by  Christians."  But,  though 
Pius  VI  in  1566  and  Clement  VIII  in  1592  and 
1599  renew  the  decrees  of  prohibition  in  spite  of 
the  Council,  the  editions  of  the  Talmud  multiply 
rapidly,  and  the  sixteenth  century,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Reformation,  sees  Jewish  studies  in 
honor  with  Christian  scholars,  who  seek  the  in- 
struction of  Rabbis.  The  most  celebrated  scholar 
of  the  sixteenth  century  is  Reuchlin,  the  impartial 
savant,  the  intrepid  champion  of  the  Talmud. 


THE   TALMUD  95 

Among  others,  there  is  Maximilian  I's  physician, 
Paul  Riccio,  the  first,  I  believe,  to  attempt  a  Latin 
compilation  of  the  Talmud.  In  the  following  cen- 
tury works  abound.  Above  all  should  be  cited 
those  of  the  two  Buxtorfs,  who  for  more  than 
seventy  years  occupy  in  succession  the  chair  of 
Hebrew  at  Basle,  and  publish  Hebrew  grammars 
and  lexicons,  translate  Jewish  authors  of  the  mid- 
dle ages,  and  instruct  their  contemporaries  in  Rab- 
binic studies.  Next,  Latin  translations  of  diverse 
Talmudic  texts  are  attempted.  Constant  I'Empe- 
reur  translates  and  annotates  the  treatises  Baba 
Kamma  and  Middoth  ;  Cocceius,  the  treatises  Mak- 
koth  and  Synhedrin ;  Surenhusius,  the  Mishna, 
which  had  been  translated  before  into  Spanish  and 
Latin  by  the  Jew  Jacob  and  his  brother  Isaac 
Abendana.  Selden  publishes  his  learned  studies 
on  The  Jewish  Woman,  the  Civil  Year,  Natural 
Law  according  to  the  Hebrews,  the  Tribunals ; 
Lightfoot  issues  his  Hebraic  and  Talmudic  Hours ; 
Shickard  his  Royal  Law  among  the  Hebrews, 
"snatched  from  Rabbinic  Darkness;"  Bartolocci, 
finally,  his  "great  Rabbinic  library."  In  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  we  have  among  others  the  works 
of  Wagenseil,  Danz,  Schoetggen,  Rheinfeld,  Egger. 
But  though  these  authors  in  various  respects  de- 
serve commendation,  the  greater  part  of  them 
write  under  the  influence  of  religious  prejudice  or 
the  narrowest  fanaticism,  and  wittingly  or  unwit- 
tingly sacrifice  truth  to  party  spirit.  Often  reli- 
gious passion  is  openly  displayed,  and  has  the 
frankness  to  announce  itself  in  the  very  titles. 


Q6  THE   TALMUD 

Wagenseil,  the  learned  translator  of  Sota,  gives  us 
his  Fiery  Datts  of  Satan,  or,  the  Secret  and  Horri- 
ble Books  of  the  Jews  against  Jesus  Christ  and  the 
Christian  Religion,  and  later,  his  Christian  Denun- 
ciation of  the  Blasphemies  of  the  Jews  against  Jesus 
Christ.  Danz,  the  author  of  Rabbinism  Explained, 
publishes,  The  Jews  slain  with  their  own  Sword ; 
Eisenmenger,y//^/j;«  Unmasked,  or  the  Complete 
Account  of  the  Calumnies,  Blasphemies,  Errors,  and 
Fables  of  the  Jews.  Have  such  studies,  inspired 
solely  by  ardent  and  malignant  fanaticism,  the 
rights  of  citizenship  in  the  Republic  of  Letters  ? 

The  science  of  our  day  owes  to  itself  the  duty  of 
studying  the  Talmud  impartially.  It  will  judge 
worthy  of  its  attention  this  monument  of  a  religion 
and  a  civilization  whose  influence  has  not  been 
void  in  the  world,  and,  whatever  its  absolute  value 
may  be  adjudged  to  be,  science  will  understand  it, 
and  study  its  formation  and  development.  It  will 
demand  of  the  Talmud  instruction,  or  at  least  in- 
formation, almost  as  varied  as  the  subjects  coming 
within  the  compass  of  science.  The  historian  will 
address  himself  to  it  for  light  upon  the  history  of 
the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  and  of  the 
centuries  immediately  preceding  it,  and  though  not 
seeking  in  it  precise  data,  which  it  cannot  furnish, 
he  will  be  sure  to  find  a  faithful  picture  of  the  be- 
liefs and  ideas  of  the  Jewish  nation,  of  its  moral 
and  spiritual  life.  The  naturalist  will  ask  of  it 
numerous  questions  concerning  the  sciences,  phys- 
ical, natural,  or  medical.  Has  it  ever  occurred  to 
any  one  to  compile,  if  not  the  fauna,  at  least  the 


THE    TALMUD  97 

flora  of  the  Talmud,  that  is,  of  the  Palestine  and 
Babylonia  contemporary  with  the  Empire?  It 
were  easy  with  it  as  a  basis  to  furnish  a  second  edi- 
tion of  Pliny's  Natural  History >  certainly  as  valuable 
as  the  first.  The  lawyer  will  question  it  on  the 
history  of  its  jurisprudence,  will  investigate 
whether,  how,  and  by  what  intermediaries  Roman 
law  and  Persian  customs  influenced  it,  and  it  will 
be  a  curious  study  to  compare  the  results  that 
two  different  civilizations,  directed  by  opposite 
principles,  have  reached  in  the  Jus  civile  and  the 
Jus  Talmudicum.  The  mythologist  will  dive  into 
its  legends,  and,  by  a  wise  application  of  the 
comparative  method,  determine  the  history  of  Mi- 
drashic  mythology.  The  philologist  will  devote 
himself  to  the  language — that  abrupt,  rough  lan- 
guage, by  means  of  which  the  Talmud  seems  to 
please  itself  in  heaping  up  obscurities  of  form 
over  those  of  the  thought,  and  he  will  be  sure  to 
make  more  than  one  happy  find.  For,  says  the 
author  of  the  History  of  the  Semitic  Languages-,  "the 
lexical  spoliation  and  grammatic  analysis  of  the 
Talmudic  language,  according  to  the  methods  of 
modern  philology,  remain  to  be  made.  .  .  .  That 
language  fills  a  hiatus  in  the  history  of  Semitic 
idioms."  Finally,  the  philosopher  will  demand  of 
the  Talmud  the  explanation  of  Judaism  and  the 
history  of  Jewish  institutions,  and  as  the  Talmudic 
books  offer  the  completest  expression  thereof,  and 
as  he  has  at  hand  all  the  component  elements,  a 
scrupulous  analysis  will  give  him  the  law  of  the 
development  of  the  Jewish  religion. 


PUBLICATIONS 

OF  THE 

JEWISH  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY 

OF  AMERICA 

OUTLINES  OF  JEWISH  HISTORY.    From  the  Return  from  Babylon  to 

the  Present  Time.     By  Lady  Magnus.     (Revised  by  M.  Friedlander.) 
THINK  AND  THANK.    By  Samuel  W.  Cooper. 
RABBI  AND  PRIEST.    By  Milton  Goldsmith. 
THE  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  JEWS  IN  RUSSIA. 
VOEGELE'S  MARRIAGE  AND  OTHER  TALES.    By  Louis  Schnabel. 
CHILDREN  OF  THE  GHETTO :  BEING  PICTURES  OF  A  PECULIAR 

PEOPLE.    By  I.  Zangwill. 
SOME  JEWISH  WOMEN.    By  Henry  Zirndorf. 
HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.    By  Prof.  H.  Graetz. 

Vol.  I.      From  the  Earliest  Period  to  the  Death  of  Simon  the  Mac- 
cabee  (135  B.  C.  E.). 

Vol.  II.     From  the  Reign  of  Hyrcanus  to  the  Completion  of  the 
Babylonian  Talmud  (500  C.  E.). 

Vol.  III.   From  the  Completion  of  the  Babylonian  Talmud  to  the 
Expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  England  (1290  C.  E.). 

Vol.  IV.    From  the  Rise  of  the  Kabbala  (1270  C.  E.)  to  the  Permanent 
Settlement  of  the  Marranos  in  Holland  (16  L8  C.  E.). 

Vol.  V.       From  the  Chmielnicki  Persecution  in  Poland  (1648  C.  E.)  to 

the  Present  Time. 

SABBATH  HOURS.    Thoughts.    By  Liebman  Adler. 
PAPERS  OF  THE  JEWISH  WOMEN'S  CONGRESS,  Chicago,  1893. 
OLD  EUROPEAN  JEWRIES.     By  David  Philipson,  D.D. 
JEWISH  LITERATURE  AND  OTHER  ESSAYS.    By  Gustav  Karpeles. 
THE  TALMUD.     By  Emanuel  Deutsch. 

READINGS  AND  RECITATIONS.    Compiled  by  Isabel  E.  Cohen. 
STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM.    By  S.  Schechter. 

JEWISH  LIFE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.    By  Israel  Abrahams. 
IN  THE  PALE.    Stories  and  Legends  of  the  Russian  Jews.    By  Henry 

Iliowizi. 
PROCEEDINGS  OF  TRE  FIRST  CONVENTION  OF  THE  NATIONAL 

COUNCIL  OF  JEWISH  WOMEN,  New  York,  1896. 
THE  TALMUD.    By  Arsene  Darmsteter.    Translated  from  the  French 

by  Henrietta  Szold.       _ 

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OUTLINES  OF  JEWISH  HISTORY, 

From  the  Return  from  Babylon  to  the  Present  Time, 
1890. 

With  Three  Maps,  a  Frontispiece  and  Chronological  TableSv 

BY  LADY  MAGNUS. 

REVISED  BY  M.  FRIEDLANDER,  PH.  D. 

OPINIONS    OF   THE    PRESS. 

The  entire  work  is  one  of  great  interest ;  it  is  written  with  moderation, 
and  yet  with  a  fine  enthusiasm  for  the  great  race  which  is  set  before  tho 
reader's  mind  —Atlantic  Monthly. 

We  doubt  whether  there  is  in  the  English  language  a  better  sketch  of 
Jewish  history.  The  Jewish  Publication  Society  is  to  be  congratulated 
on  the  successful  opening  of  its  career.  Such  a  movement,  so  auspi- 
ciously begun,  deserves  the  hearty  support  of  the  public.— Nation  (New 
York). 

Of  universal  historical  interest.— Philadelphia  Ledger. 

Compresses  much  in  simple  language.— Baltimore  Sun. 

Though  full  of  sympathy  for  her  own  people,  it  is  not  without  a  sin- 
gular value  for  readers  whose  religious  belief  differs  from  that  of  the 
author. — New  York  Times. 

One  of  the  clearest  and  most  compact  works  of  its  class  produced  in 
modern  times. — New  York  Sun. 

The  Jewish  Publication  Society  of  America  has  not  only  conferred  a 
favor  upon  all  young  Hebrews,  but  also  upon  all  Gentiles  who  desire  to 
see  the  Jew  as  he  appears  to  himself. — Boston  Herald. 

We  know  of  no  single-volume  history  which  gives  a  better  idea  of  the 
remarkable  part  played  by  the  Jews  in  ancient  and  modern  history. — 
San  Francisco  Chronicle. 

A  succinct,  well-written  history  of  a  wonderful  race.— Buffalo  Courier. 

The  best  hand-book  of  Jewish  history  that  readers  of  any  class  can 
find. — New  York  Herald. 

A  convenient  and  attractive  hand-book  of  Jewish  history.— Cleveland 
Plain  Dealer. 

The  work  is  an  admirable  one,  and  as  a  manual  of  Jewish  history  it 
may  be  commended  to  persons  of  every  race  and  creed. — Philadelphia 
Times. 

Altogether  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  another  book  en  this  subject 
containing  so  much  information.— American  (Philadelphia). 

Lady  Magnus'  book  is  a  valuable  addition  to  the  store-house  of  litera- 
ture that  we  already  have  about  the  Jews.— Charleston  (S.  C.)  News. 

We  should  like  to  see  this  volume  in  the  library  of  every  school  in  the 
State.— Albany  Argus. 

A  succinct,  helpful  portrayal  of  Jewish  history.— .Boston  Post. 

Bound  in  Cloth.        Price,  postpaid,  $1.00,  Library  Edition. 
75  cents.  School  Edition. 


"THINK  AND  THANK." 

A  Tale  for  the  Young,  Narrating  in  Romantic  Form  the 

Boyhood  of  Sir  Moses  Montefiore. 
WITH    SIX    ILLUSTRATIONS. 

BY  SAMUEL  W.  COOPER. 

OPINIONS  OFTHE  PRESS. 

A  graphic  and  interesting  story,  full  of  incident  and  adveruvtre,  with 
an  admirable  spirit  attending  it  consonant  with  the  kindly  and  sweet, 
though  courageous  and  energetic  temper  of  the  distinguished  philan- 
thropist.—American  (Philadelphia). 

THINK  AND  THANK  is  a  most  useful  corrective  to  race  prejudice.  It 
!s  also  deeply  interesting  as  a  biographical  sketch  of  a  distinguished 
Englishman  .—Pliiladelph  ia  Ledger. 

A  fine  book  for  boys  of  any  class  to  read.— Public  Opinion. 

It  will  have  especial  interest  for  the  boys  of  his  race,  but  all  school- 
boys can  well  afford  to  read  it  and  profit  by  it.— Albany  Evening  Journal. 

Told  simply  and  well.— New  York  Sun. 

An  excellent  story  for  children.— Indianapolis  Journal. 

The  old  as  well  as  the  young  may  learn  a  lesson  from  it. — Jewish 
Exponent. 

It  is  a  thrilling  story  exceedingly  well  told.— American  Israelite. 

The  book  is  written  in  a  plain,  simple  style,  and  is  well  adapted  fcr 
Sunday-school  libraries. — Jewish  Spectator. 

It  is  one  of  the  very  few  books  in  the  English  language  which  can  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  Jewish  boy  with  the  assurance  of  arousing  and 
maintaining  his  interest. — Hebrew  Journal. 

Intended  for  the  young,  but  may  well  be  read  by  their  elders.— Detroit 
Free  Press. 

Bright  and  attractive  reading.— Philadelphia  Press. 

THINK  AND  THANK  will  please  boys,  and  it  will  be  found  popular 
In  Sunday-school  libraries.— New  York  Herald. 

The  story  is  a  beautiful  one,  and  gives  a  clear  insight  into  the  circum- 
stances, the  training  and  the  motives  that  gave  impulse  and  energy  to 
the  life-work  of  the  great  philanthropist. — Kansas  City  Times. 

We  should  be  glad  to  know  that  this  little  book  has  a  large  circulation 
among  Gentiles  as  well  as  among  the  "  chosen  people."  It  has  no  truce 
of  religious  bigotry  about  it,  and  its  perusal  cannot  but  serve  to  make 
Christian  and  Jew  better  known  to  each  other.— Philadelphia  Telegraph. 

Bound  in  Cloth.  Price,  postpaid,  50c. 


RABBI  AND  PRIEST. 

A  STORY. 

BY  MILTON  GOLDSMITH. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE    PRESS. 

The  author  has  attempted  to  depict  faithfully  the  customs  and  prac- 
tices of  the  Russian  people  and  government  in  connection  with  the 
Jewish  population  of  that  country.  The  book  is  a  strong  and  well  writ- 
ten story.  We  read  and  suffer  with  the  sufferers.— Public  Opinion 

Althougn  addressed  to  Jews,  with  an  appeal  to  them  to  seek  free- 
dom and  peace  in  America,  it  ought  to  be  read  by  humane  people  of  all 
races  and  religions.  Mr.  Goldsmith  is  a  master  of  English,  and  his 
pure  style  is  one  of  the  real  pleasures  of  the  story.— Philadelphia  Bulle- 
tin. 

The  book  has  the  merit  of  being  well  written,  is  highly  entertaining, 
and  it  cannot  fail  to  prove  of  interest  to  all  who  may  want  to  acquaint 
themselves  in  the  matter  of  the  condition  of  affairs  that  has  recently 
been  attracting  universal  attention.— San  Francisco  Call. 

RABBI  AND  PRIEST  has  genuine  worth,  and  is  entitled  to  a  rank 
among  the  foremost  of  its  class. — Minneapolis  Tribune. 

The  writer  tells  his  story  from  the  Jewish  standpoint,  and  tells  it 
well.— St.  Louis  Republic. 

The  descriptions  of  life  in  Russia  are  vivid  and  add  greatly  to  the 
charm  of  the  book.— Buffalo  Courier. 

A  very  thrilling  story. — Charleston  (S,  C.)  News. 

Very  like  the  horrid  tales  that  come  from  unhappy  Russia. — 2V  ew 
Orleans  Picayune. 

The  situations  are  dramatic ;  the  dialogue  is  spirited.— Jewish  Mes- 
senger. 

A  history  of  passing  events  in  an  interesting  form.— Jewish  Tidings, 

RABBI  AND  PRIEST  will  appeal  to  the  sympathy  of  every  reader  in  its 
touching  simplicity  and  truthfulness. — Jewish  Spectator. 

Bound  in  Cloth.  Price,  Post-paid,  $1. 


OF  THE  GHETTO 


BEING 

PICTURES  OF  <\  PEQULIflR  PEOPLE. 


BY  I.  ZANGWIIX. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

The  art  of  a  Hogarth  or  a  Cruikshank  could  not  have  made  types  of 
character  stand  out  with  greater  force  or  in  bolder  relief  than  has  the 
pen  of  this  author.— Philadelphia  Record. 

It  is  one  of  the  best  pictures  of  Jewish  life  and  thought  that  we  have 
seen  since  the  publication  of  "Daniel  Deronda." — London  Pall  Mall 
Gazette. 

This  book  is  not  a  mere  mechanical  photographic  reproduction  of  the 
people  it  describes,  but  a  glowing,  vivid  portrayal  of  them,  with  all  the 
pulsating  sympathy  of  one  who  understands  them,  their  thoughts  and 
feelings,  with  all  the  picturesque  fidelity  of  the  artist  who  appreciates 
the  spiritual  significance  of  that  which  he  seeks  to  delineate.— Hebrew 
Journal. 

Its  sketches  of  character  have  the  highest  value.  .  .  .  Not  often 
do  we  note  a  book  so  fresh,  true  and  in  everyway  helpful. — Philadelphia 
Evening  Telegraph. 

A  strong  and  remarkable  book.  It  is  not  easy  to  find  a  parallel  to  it. 
We  do  not  know  of  any  other  novel  which  deals  so  fully  and  so  authori- 
tatively with  Judaea  in  modern  London. — Speaker,  London. 

Among  the  notable  productions  of  the  time.  .  .  .  All  that  is  here 
portrayed  is  unquestionable  truth. — Jewish  Exponent. 

Many  of  the  pictures  will  be  recognized  at  once  by  those  who  have 
visited  London  or  are  at  all  familiar  with  the  life  of  that  city.— Detroit 
Free  Prefs. 

It  is  a  succession  of  sharply-penned  realistic  portrayals.—  Baltimore 
American. 


TWO  VOLUMES. 
Bound  in  Cloth.  Price,  postpaid,  $2.50. 


SOME  JEWISH  WOMEN. 


HENRY  ZIRNDORF. 


OPINIONS   OF   THE   FFfESS: 

Moral  purity,  nobility  of  soul,  self-sacrifice,  deep  affection  and  devotion, 
sorrow  and  happiness  all  enter  into  these  biographies,  and  the  interest 
felt  in  their  perusal  is  added  to  by  the  warmth  and  sympathy  which  the 
author  displays  and  by  his  cultured  and  vigorous  style  of  writing. — 
Philadelphia  Record. 

His  methods  are  at  once  a  simplification  and  expansion  of  Josephus  and 
the  Talmud , stories  simply  told,  faithful  presentation  of  the  virtues,  and  not 
infrequently  the  vices,  of  characters  sometimes  legendary,  generally 
real.— New  York  World. 

The  lives  here  given  are  interesting  in  all  cases,  and  are  thrilling  in 
some  cases.— Public  Opinion 

The  volume  is  one  of  universal  historic  interest,  and  is  a  portrayal  of 
the  early  trials  of  Jewish  women. — Boston  Herald. 

Though  the  chapters  are  brief,  they  are  clearly  the  result  of  deep  and 
thorough  research  that  gives  the  modest  volume  an  historical  and  critical 
value.— Philadelphia  Times. 

It  is  an  altogether  creditable  undertaking  that  the  present  author  has 
brought  to  so  gratifying  a  close— the  silhouette  drawing  of  Biblical 
female  character  against  the  background  of  those  ancient  historic  times. 
— Minneapolis  Tribune. 

Henry  Zirndorf  ranks  high  as  a  student,  thinker  and  writer,  and  this 
little  book  will  go  far  to  encourage  the  study  of  Hebrew  literature.— 
Denver  Republican. 

The  book  is  gracefully  written,  and  has  many  strong  touches  of  char- 
acterizations.— Toledo  Blade. 

The  sketches  are  based  upon  available  history  and  are  written  in  clear 
narrative  style.— Galveston  Xews. 

Henry  Zirndorf  has  done  a  piece  of  work  of  much  literary  excellence 
in  "  SOME  JEWISH  WOMEN."— St.  Louis  Post- Dispatch. 

It  is  an  attractive  book  in  appearance  and  full  of  curious  biographical 
research. — Baltimore  Sun. 

The  writer  shows  careful  research  and  conscientiousness  in  making 
his  narratives  historically  correct  and  in  giving  to  each  heroine  her  just 
due.— American  Israelite  (Cincinnati). 


Bound  in  Cloth,  Ornamental,  Gilt  Top.   Price,  postpaid,  $1.25. 


HISTORY  op  THE  JEWS. 

BY 

PROFESSOR  H.  QRAETZ. 


Vol.      I.    From  the  Earliest  Period  to  the  Death  of  Simon  the 

Maccabee  (135  B.  C.  K,). 
Tol.     II.    From  the  Reign  of  Hyrcanus  to  the  Completion  of  the 

Babylonian  Talmud  (5OO  C.  E.). 
Vol.  III.    From  the  Completion  of  the  Babylonian  Talmud  to 

the  Banishment  of  the  Jews  from  England  (129O 

C.  E.). 

Vol.  IV.    From  the  Rise  of  the  Kabbala  (127O  C.  E.)  to  the  Per- 
manent Settlement  of  the  Marranosiu  Holland  (1618 

C.  E.). 
Vol.      V.    From  the  Chmielnicki  Persecution  in  Poland  (1648 

C.  E.)  to  the  Present  Time. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

Professor  Graetz's  History  is  universally  accepted  as  a  conscientious 
and  reliable  contribution  to  religious  literature.— Philadelphia  Telegraph. 

Aside  from  his  value  as  a  historian,  he  makes  his  pages  charming  by 
all  the  little  side-lights  and  illustrations  which  only  come  at  the  beck 
of  genius.— Chicago  Inter-Ocean. 

The  writer,  who  is  considered  by  far  the  greatest  of  Jewish  historians, 
is  the  pioneer  in  his  field  of  work— history  without  theology  or  polemics. 

.  .  .  His  monumental  work  promises  to  be  the  standard  by  which 
all  other  Jewish  histories  are  to  be  measured  by  Jews  for  many  years  to 
come. — Baltimore  American. 

Whenever  the  subject  constrains  the  author  to  discuss  the  Christian 
religion,  he  is  animated  by  a  spirit  not  unworthy  of  the  philosophic  and 
high-minded  hero  of  Lessing's  "  Nathan  the  Wise."— New  York  Sun. 

It  is  an  exhaustive  arid  scholarly  work,  for  which  the  student  of  his- 
tory has  reason  to  be  devoutly  thankful.  ...  It  will  be  welcomed 
also  for  the  writer's  excellent  style  and  for  the  almost  gossipy  way  in 
which  he  turns  aside  from  the  serious  narrative  to  illumine  his  pages 
with  illustrative  descriptions  of  life  and  scenery. — Detroit  Free  Press. 

One  of  the  striking  features  of  the  compilation  is  its  succinctness  and 
rapidity  of  narrative,  while  at  the  same  time  necessary  detail  is  not 
sacrificed. — Minneapolis  Tribune. 

Whatever  controversies  the  work  may  awaken,  of  its  noble  scholarship 
there  can  be  no  question. — Richmond  Dispatch. 

If  one  desires  to  study  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people  under  the 
direction  of  a  scholar  and  pleasant  writer  who  is  in  sympathy  with  his 
subject  because  he  is  himself  a  Jew,  he  should  resort  to  the  volumes  of 
Graetz. — Review  of  Reviews  (New  York). 

Bound  in  Cloth.  Price,  postpaid,  $3  per  volume. 


SABBATH  HOURS. 

THOWGHTS. 
By  LIEBMAN  ADLER. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

Rabbi  Adler  was  a  man  of  strong  and  fertile  mind,  and  his  sermons 
are  eminently  readable. — Sunday  School  Times. 

As  one  turns  from  sermon  to  sermon,  he  gathers  a  wealth  of  precept, 
which,  if  he  would  practice,  he  would  make  both  himself  and  others 
happier.  We  might  quote  from  every  page  some  noble  utterance  or 
sweet  thought  well  worthy  of  the  cherishing  by  either  Jew  or  Christian. 
— Richmond  Dispatch. 

The  topics  discussed  are  in  the  most  instances  practical  in  their 
nature.  All  are  instructive,  and  passages  of  rare  eloquence  are  of  fre- 
quent occurrence.— San  Francisco  Call. 

The  sermons  are  simple  and  careful  studies,  sometimes  of  doctrine, 
but  more  often  of  teaching  and  precept.— Chicago  Times. 

He  combined  scholarly  attainment  with  practical  experience,  and 
these  sermons  cover  a  wide  range  of  subject.  Some  of  them  are  singu- 
larly modern  in  tone.— Indianapolis  News. 

They  are  modern  sermons,  dealing  with  the  problems  of  the  day,  and 
convey  the  interpretation  which  these  problems  should  receive  in  the 
light  of  the  Old  Testament  history.— Boston  Herald. 

While  this  book  is  not  without  interest  in  those  communities  where 
there  is  no  scarcity  of  religious  teaching  and  influence,  it  cannot  fail  to 
be  particularly  so  in  those  communities  where  there  is  but  little  Jewish 
teaching.— Baltimore  American. 

The  sermons  are  thoughtful  and  earnest  in  tone  and  draw  many  forci- 
ble and  pertinent  lessons  from  the  Old  Testament  records.— Syracuse 
Herald. 

They  are  saturated  with  Bible  lore,  but  every  incident  taken  from  the 
Old  Testament  is  made  to  illustrate  some  truth  in  modern  life.—  San 
Francisco  Chronicle. 

They  are  calm  and  conservative,  .  .  .  applicable  in  their  essential 
meaning  to  the  modern  religious  needs  of  Gentile  as  well  as  Jew.  In 
style  they  are  eminently  clear  and  direct. — Review  of  Reviews  (New  York). 

Able,  forcible,  helpful  thoughts  upon  themes  most  essential  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  family,  society  and  the  state. — Public  Opinion 

Bound  in  Cloth.  Price,  postpaid,  $1.25, 


PAPERS 


OF 


Jewish  Women's  Congress 

HELD  AT  CHICAGO,  SEPTEMBER,  1893. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

This  meeting  was  held  during  the  first  week  of  September,  and  was 
marked  by  the  presentation  of  some  particularly  interesting  addresses 
and  plans.  This  volume  is  a  complete  report  of  the  sessions.— Chicago 
Times. 

The  collection  in  book  form  of  the  papers  read  at  the  Jewish  Women's 
Congress  „  .  .  makes  an  interesting  and  valuable  book  of  the  history 
and  affairs  of  the  Jewish  women  of  America  and  England.— St.  Louis 
Post- Dispatch. 

A  handsome  and  valuable  souvenir  of  an  event  of  great  significance 
to  the  people  of  the  Jewish  faith,  and  of  much  interest  and  value  to  in- 
telligent and  well-informed  people  of  all  faiths.— Kansas  City  Times. 

The  Congress  was  a  branch  of  the  parliament  of  religions  and  was  a 
great  success,  arousing  the  interest  of  Jews  and  Christians  alike,  and 
bringing  together  from  all  parts  of  the  country  women  interested  in 
their  religion,  following  similar  lines  of  work  and  sympathetic  in  ways 
of  thought.  .  .  .  The  papers  in  the  volume  are  all  of  interest.— 
Detroit  Free  Press. 

The  Jewish  Publication  Society  of  America  has  done  a  good  work  in 
gathering  up  and  issuing  in  a  well-printed  volume  the  "  Papers  of  the 
Jewish  Women's  Congress."— Cleveland  Plain-Dealer. 

Bound  in  Cloth.  Price,  Postpaid,  $1. 


OLD 
EUROPEAN  JEWRIES 

By  DAVID  PHILIPSON,  D.D. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS 

A  good  purpose  is  served  in  this  unpretending  little  book,  .  .  . 
which  contains  an  amount  and  kind  of  information  that  it  would  be 
difficult  to  find  elsewhere  without  great  labor.  The  author's  subject  is 
the  Ghetto,  or  Jewish  quarter  in  European  cities.— Literary  World 
(Boston). 

It  is  interesting  ...  to  see  the  foundation  of  ...  so  much 
fiction  that  is  familiar  to  us— to  go,  as  the  author  here  has  gone  in  one 
of  his  trips  abroad,  into  the  remains  of  the  old  Jewries.— Baltimore  Sun. 

His  book  is  a  careful  study  limited  to  the  official  Ghetto. — Cincinnati 
Commercial-  Gazette. 

Out-of-the-way  information,  grateful  to  the  delver  in  antiquities, 
forms  the  staple  of  a  work  on  the  historic  Ghettos  of  Europe.— Mil- 
waukee Sentinel. 

He  tells  the  story  of  the  Ghettos  calmly,  sympathetically  and  con- 
scientiously, and  his  deductions  are  in  harmony  with  those  of  all  other 
intelligent  and  fair-minded  men. — Richmond  Dispatch. 

A  striking  study  of  the  results  of  a  system  that  has  left  its  mark  upon 
the  Jews  of  all  countries. — San  Francisco  Chronicle. 

He  has  carefully  gone  over  all  published  accounts  and  made  discrimi- 
nating use  of  the  publications,  both  recent  and  older,  on  his  subject,  in 
German,  French  and  English. — Rtjorm  Advocate  (Chicago). 

Bound  in  Cloth  Price,  Postpaid,  $1.25 


JEWISH  LITERATURE 


AND 


OTHER  ESSAYS 

GUSTAV 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS 

There  is  a  very  significant  sense  in  which  it  is  impossible  really  to  under- 
stand the  Bible  unless  one  knows  something  of  the  working  of  the  Jewish 
mind  in  letters  since  it  was  written.  One  can  heartily  commend  this  little 
volume  to  people  who  want  this  information.—  TALCOTT  WILLIAMS,  Book 
News. 

The  essays  have  the  charm  of  an  attractive  style,  combined  with  a  sub  ee«. 
of  great  and  varied  interest.—  Independent. 

A  vrry  informing  review  of  the  entire  round  of  Jewish  intellectual  activity. 
— Sunday  School  Times. 

Its  great  merit,  from  the  non-Jewish  standpoint,  is  that  it  looks  at  civiliza- 
tion and  history  and  literature  from  a  new  point  of  view  ;  it  opens  unsus- 
pected vistas,  reveals  a  wealth  of  fact  and  of  opinion  before  unknown.^ 
Public  Opinion. 

The  author  shows  in  every  chapter  the  devoted  love  for  Judaism  which 
prompted  the  work,  and  which  gave  him  enthusiasm  and  patience  for  the 
thorough  research  and  study  evinced. — Denver  Republican. 

A  splendid  and  eloquent  recital  of  the  glories  of  Jewish  religion,  philoso- 
phy and  song. — Philadelphia  Record. 

The  result  of  great  research  by  a  careful,  painstaking  scholar. — Albany 
Journal. 

The  reader  who  is  unacquainted  with  the  literary  life  of  the  highest  circles 
of  Jewish  society  will  have  his  eyes  opened  to  things  of  which,  perhaps,  he 
has  never  dreamed. — New  Orleans  Picayune. 

For  popular,  yet  scholarly  treatment,  and  the  varied  character  of  its 
themes,  Dr.  Gustav  Karpeles'  "Jewish  Literature  and  other  Essays"  is  an 
almost  ideal  volume  for  a  Jewish  Publication  Society  to  issue. — Jewish  Mes- 
senger (New  York). 

All  of  the  essays  show  that  thorough  erudition,  clear  discernment  and 
Briticism  for  which  their  author  is  noted. — Jewish  Exponent  ( Philadelphia). 


Bound  in  Cloth.    Price,  Postpaid,  $1.25 


Readings  and  Recitations 


FOR 


JEWISH  HOMES  AND  SCHOOLS 


COMPILED  BY 

ISABEL  B.   COHEN 


OPINIONS  OF  THE   PRESS. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  name  a  similar  collection  as  dignified  as  this.— 
Boston  Herald. 

To  many  the  revelation  of  the  extent  to  which  English  literature  is 
indebted  to  the  Hebrew  Bible  for  its  themes  and  images  will  come  as  a 
surprise. — Neiv  Orleans  Times-Democrat. 

There  is  a  rich  fund  of  literature  to  choose  from  in  making  a  selection 
of  the  kind,  for  the  Old  Testament  and  the  stories  of  the  old  Jewish 
writers  have  furnished  many  themes  to  our  poets— both  English  and 
American— from  Browning,  Longfellow,  Whittier  and  Aldrich,  to  Edwin 
Arnold. — Baltimore  Sun. 

One  who  reads  these  selections  will  find  therein  the  casus  esse  of  Juda- 
ism, and  the  more  that  its  inspiration  and  the  treasures  of  its  own  litera- 
ture are  thus  made  accessible  to  Jew  and  non-Jew  alike,  the  stronger 
will  be  the  "  hooks  of  steel "  by  which  it  will  clasp  the  affection  of  its 
followers. — Jewish  South  (Richmond). 

The  compiler  has,  with  rare  taste,  selected  from  English  literature  the 
masterpieces  of  song  and  thought,  written  under  the  inspiration  and  as 
paraphrases  of  Biblical  poetry.  To  these  have  been  added  English 
versions  of  some  of  the  choicest  gems  from  the  divan  of  Jewish  poets. 
This  book  should  be  found  in  every  Jewish  home ;  it  should  find  its  way 
into  every  Jewish  Sabbath-School ;  for  none  will  lay  it  aside  without 
feeling  that  a  religion,  which  could  intone  such  songs  and  inspire  such 
bards,  has  every  claim  upon  the  intelligent  reverence  of  those  in  its 
household  born.— E.  G.  II. ,  in  Reform  Advocate  (Chicago). 


Bound  in  Cloth,  Price,  Postpaid,  $1.25 

"      "  Half  Morocco,  "  "         $1.75 


STUDIES   IN  JUDAISM 

BY  S.  SCHECHTER,  M.A. 
Reader  in  Talmudic  in  the  University  of  Cambridge 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS 

A  mine  of  fresh  information  and  fresh  ideas,  conveyed  in  a  style  that 
is  graceful  and  vivid  and  frequently  witty.— L  Zangwill. 

Mr.  Schechter  is  one  of  the  few  men  whom  we  possess  to-day  who  seem 
to  understand  that  to  popularize  Judaism  is  not  unworthy  of  the  greatest 
scholar.  And  what  more  than  anything  else  attracts  us  to  his  writings— 
a  quality  which  marks  in  an  eminent  degree  the  collection  just  published 
—is  not  merely  the  lucidity  of  the  style  and  the  exposition,  but  the  fact, 
most  significant  in  these  days  of  dominant  philology  and  archaeology, 
that  Mr.  Schechter  remembers  that  Judaism  after  all  is  a  religion  and 
not  merely  an  interesting  congeries  of  problems  inviting  the  curiosity  of 
the  historian  and  antiquarian  or  the  bibliographer. — Reform  Advocate 
(Chicago). 

The  value  of  the  book  lies  in  its  careful  interpretation  of  the  more 
serious  side  of  Hebrew  theology,  and  for  this  reason  it  may  be  appreci- 
ated at  its  true  worth  by  many  a  scholar. — New  York  Herald. 

It  is  very  much  to  be  doubted  if  in  any  single  volume  yet  published  is 
to  be  found  so  complete  a  picture  of  modern  Judaism,  of  its  aims,  pur- 
poses and  beliefs,  as  is  given  us  in  this  volume  of  collected  essays.— Bos- 
ton Advertiser. 

They  possess  not  only  the  element  of  novelty  to  general  readers  inter- 
ested in  such  themes,  but  are  based  on  thorough  scholarship  and  admir- 
able literary  qualities.—  Jewish  Messenger  (New  York). 

A  number  of  the  articles  must  be  considered  real  contributions  to  the 
literature  which  has  of  late  sprung  up  in  treatment  of  the  phases  of  Jew- 
ish history  in  the  vernacular.— Jewish  Criterion  (Pittsburg). 

As  an  educational  source  the  essays  are  a  treasure  house  to  the  lay  read- 
er.— Chicago  Israelite. 


Bound  in  Cloth.    Price,  Postpaid,  $1.75. 


Jewish  Life  in  the  Middle  Ages 

BY  ISRAEL  ABRAHAMS,  FLA. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS 

The  research  involved  in  this  piece  of  work  must  have  been  patient 
and  profound ;  nevertheless  the  author  presents  his  results  in  an  attract- 
ive manner.— Nation. 

The  author's  study  of  the  Ghetto  reveals  many  facts  Jews  and  Chris- 
tians do  not  know. — New  York  Times. 

Contains  a  vast  amount  of  interesting  information.— New  York  Sun. 

This  is  a  hook  which  will  be  read  with  interest  by  a  large  public,  and 
cannot  fail  to  be  of  great  help  to  the  student.  It  is  a  valuable  contribu- 
tion to  Jewish  literature. ...  It  is,  indeed,  an  excellent  and  complete 
picture  of  mediaeval  Jewish  life  that  the  author  has  drawn  for  us.— 
REV.  DR.  K.  KOHLER,  American  Hebrew  (New  York). 

We  know  of  no  single  work  which  imparts  so  much  information  in  this 
field.— Jewish  Messenger  (New  York). 

The  book  is  indeed  fascinating,  and  we  know  of  no  work  more  apt  to 
serve  as  a  magnet  that  will  lead  our  young  people  to  read  more  of  Jewish 
history  than  this  charming  book.— Menorah  Monthly. 

The  whole  scale  of  mediaeval  life  as  it  was  among  the  Jews  ...  is 
revealed  with  an  accuracy  which  only  the  patient  researches  of  a  stu- 
dent and  a  scholar  can  bring  to  the  surface.— American  Jewess. 


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IN  THE  PALE 

Stories  and  Legends  of  the  Russian  Jews 

BY 

HENRY  ILIOWIZI 


*  *  *  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  tellers  of  the  tales  current  in 
Russian  Jewry  are  students  of  the  Talmud,  accustomed  to  the  hyperbole 
characteristic  of  much  of  the  unique  literature  to  which  they  devote 
their  lives.  It  is  not  too  hazardous  to  say  that  in  point  of  inventiveness 
they  can  vie  with  the  Arabian  Nights'  Entertainments,  and  in  ideality  and 
moral  elevation  they  far  surpass  them. 

These  tales  of  fact,  folklore  and  fiction  may  serve  to  open  a  window  of 
the  great  dungeon  wherein  at  least  half  of  scattered  Israel  suffers,  wor- 
ships, and  dreams. — Extract  from  Author's  Preface. 


BOUND  IN  CLOTH.     PRICE,  POSTPAID,  $1.25 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 


FIRST  CONVENTION 


OF  THE 


NATIONAL  COUNCIL  OF 
JEWISH  WOMEN 

• 
Held  at  New  York,  November,  1896 


Bound  in  Cloth  Price,  Postpaid,  $J.OO 


SPECIAL  SERIES 


No,  1 ,   The  Persecution  of  the  Jews  in  Russia 

With  a  Map 
Showing  the  Pale  of  Jewish  Settlement 

Also,  an  Appendix,  giving  an  Abridged  Summary  of  Laws, 

Special  and  Restrictive,  relating  to  the  Jews  in 

Russia,  brought  down  to  the  year  1890. 

Paper, Price,  postpaid,  25c. 


So,  I    Yoegele's  Marriage  and  Other  Tales 

BY  LOUIS  SCHNABEL 

Paper, Price,  postpaid,  25c. 

No,  3.    THE  TALMDD 

REPRINTED  FROM  THE 

" LITERARY  REMAINS" 

OF  EMANUKIv  DEUTSCH 
Boards.  -      •      •      •     Price,  postpaid.  3Oo. 


